The Accusers is a crime

Crime fiction

Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...

 novel by Lindsey Davis

Lindsey Davis

Lindsey Davis is an English historical novelist, best known as the author of the Falco series of crime stories set in ancient Rome and its empire.-Biography:...

.

Plot introduction

Set in Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 between Autumn AD 75 and Spring AD 76, The Accusers features Marcus Didius Falco

Marcus Didius Falco

Marcus Didius Falco is the central character and narrator in a series of novels by Lindsey Davis. Using the concepts of modern detective stories , Davis portrays the world of the Roman Empire under Vespasian...

, Informer and Imperial Agent. It is the fifteenth in her Falco series.

Explanation of the novel's title

The title is a reference to the role of accusers in bringing the various cases to trial during the course of the story.

Plot summary

Fresh from his trip to Britannia

Britannia

Britannia is an ancient term for Great Britain, and also a female personification of the island. The name is Latin, and derives from the Greek form Prettanike or Brettaniai, which originally designated a collection of islands with individual names, including Albion or Great Britain. However, by the...

, Marcus Didius Falco needs to re-establish himself back in Rome. A minor role in the trial of a senator

Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...

 entangles him in the machinations of two lawyers: Silus Italicus and Paccius Africanus, both ex-consul

Consul

Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...

s with notorious reputations.

The senator is convicted, but then dies, apparently by suicide. Silius hires Falco and his young associates - Aelianus and Justinus - to prove that it was murder, not an attempt to protect his heirs from further legal action. However, probing this tangle of upper-class secrets leads to fresh prosecutions. Falco finds himself in the role of advocate, exposing himself to powerful elements in Roman law

Roman law

Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, and the legal developments which occurred before the 7th century AD — when the Roman–Byzantine state adopted Greek as the language of government. The development of Roman law comprises more than a thousand years of jurisprudence — from the Twelve...

. If he offends the wrong people, it might lead to charges he has not bargained for and ruin his family financially.

Family and associates

• A. Camillus Aelianus - Elder of Helena's brothers
• Albia - British girl adopted by Helena
• Anacrites - Chief Spy
• Decimus Camillus Verus - Father of Helena
• Geminus - Father of Falco, Auctioneer
• Glaucus - Falco's trainer
• Helena Justina - Wife of Falco, eldest child, and only daughter of the Senator
  Roman Senate
  The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
  
   Decimus Camillus Verus
• Julia Junilla and Sosia Favonia - Daughters of Falco and Helena
• Julia Justa - Mother of Helena
• Junia - Falco's sister
• Junilla Tacita - Mother of Falco
• Lucius Petronius Longus - Friend of Falco and Vigiles Officer
• Maia Favonia - Falco's widowed sister
• Marcus Didius Falco - Informer and Imperial Agent
• Q. Camillus Justinus - Youngest brother of Helena
• Scythax - Vigiles doctor
• Verontius - Falco's brother-in-law

From the legal world

• Aufustius - Banker
• Biltis - Professional mourner
• Bratta - Informer
• C. Paccius Africanus - Lawyer
• Celadus - Steward
• Claudius Tiasus - Funeral director
• Euboule - Wet-nurse
• Euphanes - Herbalist
• Honorius - Lawyer
• Julius Alexander - Land agent
• Marponius - Judge
• Olympia - Fortune teller
• Perseus - Door porter
• Procreus - Accuser
• Rhoemetalces - Apothecary
• Scorpus - Wills expert
• Spindex - Funeral clown
• Ti Catius Silus Italicus - Lawyer
• Ursulina Prisca - Client
• Zeuko - Daughter of Euboule

Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science

• Set in Rome in AD 75 and 76, during the reign of Emperor Vespasian
  Vespasian
  Vespasian , was Roman Emperor from 69 AD to 79 AD. Vespasian was the founder of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for a quarter century. Vespasian was descended from a family of equestrians, who rose into the senatorial rank under the Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty...
  
  .
• Roman law
  Roman law
  Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, and the legal developments which occurred before the 7th century AD — when the Roman–Byzantine state adopted Greek as the language of government. The development of Roman law comprises more than a thousand years of jurisprudence — from the Twelve...
  
    is the legal
  Law
  Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
  
    system of ancient Rome]. The development of Roman law covers more than one thousand years from the law of the twelve tables
  Twelve Tables
  The Law of the Twelve Tables was the ancient legislation that stood at the foundation of Roman law. The Law of the Twelve Tables formed the centrepiece of the constitution of the Roman Republic and the core of the mos maiorum...
  
   (from 449 BC) to the Corpus Juris Civilis
  Corpus Juris Civilis
  The Corpus Juris Civilis is the modern name for a collection of fundamental works in jurisprudence, issued from 529 to 534 by order of Justinian I, Eastern Roman Emperor...
  
    of Emperor Justinian I
  Justinian I
  Justinian I ; , ; 483– 13 or 14 November 565), commonly known as Justinian the Great, was Byzantine Emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the Empire's greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the classical Roman Empire.One of the most important figures of...
  
   (around 530). Roman law as preserved in Justinian's codes became the basis of legal practice in the Byzantine Empire
  Byzantine Empire
  The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
  
  and—later—in continental Europe
  Europe
  Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
  
  .

Release details

• 2003, UK, Century Hardback ISBN 0-7126-2556-9
• 2004, UK, Arrow, Paperback ISBN 0-09-944526-3
• 2004, US, Mysterious Press, Hardback ISBN 0-89296-811-7

Sources, references, external links, quotations

Author's Official Website