Three Hands in the Fountain - first UK edition

by Lindsey Davis - signed

Ninth book in the Marcus Didius "Falco" series, a detective story set in ancient Rome circa A.D.73.   

'Three Hands in the Fountain' is the first of a loosely planned trilogy in which protagonist Marcus Didius Falco, an informer and imperial agent under the Emperor Vespasian, finally decides that for the sake of his girlfriend and new daughter (and Nux, the dog) he must try working with a partner in the hope of greater success. 

The story begins when Falco observes a man who is cleaning the local fountain make a gruesome discovery ... a human hand ... female.  Soon other feminine hands are being found in Rome's 200 miles of aqueduct.

Addressing the issue of how the Romans would have traced a serial killer without benefit of modern forensic science, profiling, police computers - or even any willingness by the authorities to tackle the problem - this is also a celebration of their superb engineering skills: the dismembered corpses which Falco and his best friend Petronius investigate are discovered in the magnificent sewers and aqueducts, some of which are still in use today.