{{Short description|English novelist (born 1949)}} {{About|the historical novelist|the American bishop (born 1948)|G. Lindsey Davis}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}} {{Use British English|date=December 2021}} {{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see :Template:Infobox writer/doc --> | name = Lindsey Davis | caption = | pseudonym = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1949}} | birth_place = Birmingham, England | death_date = | death_place = | nationality = British | occupation = novelist | period = 1989–present | genre = Historical crime fiction | movement = | notableworks = Marcus Didius Falco series, Flavia Albia series | website = {{URL|http://www.lindseydavis.co.uk/}} }} '''Lindsey Davis''' (born 1949) is an English historical novelist, best known as the author of the Falco series of historical crime stories set in ancient Rome and its empire. She is a recipient of the Cartier Diamond Dagger award.
==Life and career== Davis was born in Birmingham and after taking a degree in English literature at Oxford University (Lady Margaret Hall),<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.lmh.ox.ac.uk/Alumni/Prominent-alumni.aspx | title=LMH, Oxford - Prominent Alumni|access-date=20 May 2015}}</ref> she became a civil servant for 13 years. When a romantic novel she had written was runner up for the 1985 ''Georgette Heyer Historical Novel Prize'', she decided to become a writer, at first writing romantic serials for the UK women's magazine ''Woman's Realm''. One of these, ''The Bride from Bithynia'', was published in her 2023 collection ''Voices of Rome''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Davis |first1=Lindsey |title=Voices of Rome |date=2023 |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |isbn=9781399721332 |pages=10–11 |chapter=Introduction}}</ref>
Her dedication of the book ''Rebels and Traitors'' (2009) reads: "For Richard / dearest and closest of friends / your favourite book / in memory", and the author's website relates: "I am still getting used to life without my dear Richard. For those of you who haven't seen this before, he died in October [2008]."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lindseydavis.co.uk/lindseyspage.htm |title=Lindsey's page |work=The Official Lindsey Davis Website |access-date=2009-09-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090429084212/http://www.lindseydavis.co.uk/lindseyspage.htm |archive-date=2009-04-29 }}</ref> The author says in her publisher's newsletter: "The greatest recommendation I can give is that Richard, its first reader, thought it wonderful. He devoured chunks, demanding ‘Bring more story!’ even when he was in hospital. One of the last things I was ever able to tell him was that ''Rebels and Traitors'' was to be published by Random House, so I would be working with dear friends for his favourite book."<ref name=news09>{{cite web|url=http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/lindsey_davis/issue9/Lindsey%20Newsletter.pdf|title=The Lindsey Davis Newsletter, no. 9|date=January 2009|work=Random House Publishing|access-date=2009-03-31|archive-date=19 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519201552/http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/lindsey_davis/issue9/Lindsey%20Newsletter.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Davis suffered from the eye condition keratoconus from childhood, and in adulthood had a corneal transplant, about which she has said: "A stranger's generosity freed me from years of pain and anxiety" and urges her readers to carry a donor card.<ref>{{cite news|last=Davis|first=Lindsey|title=Five-minute memoir: Lindsey Davis on life with her brand new eye|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/fiveminute-memoir-lindsey-davis-on-life-with-her-brand-new-eye-7618940.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220614/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/fiveminute-memoir-lindsey-davis-on-life-with-her-brand-new-eye-7618940.html |archive-date=14 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=17 August 2012|newspaper=The Independent|date=7 April 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Lindsey's Page: Organ Donor Card Appeal |url=http://www.lindseydavis.co.uk/lindseyspage.htm |publisher=The Official Website of Lindsey Davis |access-date=17 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120911103325/http://www.lindseydavis.co.uk/lindseyspage.htm |archive-date=11 September 2012 }}</ref>
==Writing== Davis's interest in history and archaeology led to her writing a historical novel about Vespasian and his lover Antonia Caenis (''The Course of Honour''), for which she could not find a publisher. She tried again, and her first novel featuring the Roman "detective", Marcus Didius Falco, ''The Silver Pigs'' (1989), set in the same time period, was the start of her runaway success as a writer of historical whodunnits. A further 19 Falco novels have followed, as well as ''The Course of Honour'', which was published in 1997. She published ''Falco: The Official Companion'' in June 2010.
''Rebels and Traitors'', set in the period of the English Civil War, was published in September 2009.
''Master and God'', published in March 2012, is set in ancient Rome and concerns the emperor Domitian.
In 2012, Davis and her publishers, Hodder & Stoughton in the UK and St. Martin's Press in the US, announced that she was writing a new series of books centred on Flavia Albia, Falco's British-born adopted daughter and "an established female investigator". The first title, ''The Ides of April'' was published on 11 April 2013 in the UK,<ref name=flavia>{{cite web|title=Lindsey's page: Next Book |url=http://www.lindseydavis.co.uk/lindseyspage.htm |publisher=The Official Website of Lindsey Davis |access-date=17 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120911103325/http://www.lindseydavis.co.uk/lindseyspage.htm |archive-date=11 September 2012 }} ''(Copy of publishers' press release)''</ref> and its sequel, ''Enemies at Home'', was published in 2014,<ref name=ld-enemies>{{cite web|url = http://www.lindseydavis.co.uk/publications/enemies-at-home/|title = Enemies at Home|website = Lindsey Davis official website|access-date = 1 August 2013}}</ref> followed by annual additions. In an interview in 2019 Davis discussed her plan to write an Albia novel set on each of the seven hills of Rome, starting with the Aventine Hill in the book ''The Ides of April'' and culminating with the Capitoline Hill in the book ''A Capitol Death''.<ref name="hodder-interview">{{cite web |title=Lindsey Davis interview: A Capitol Death and the Flavia Albia series |url=https://soundcloud.com/hodderbooks/lindsey-davis-interview-a-capitol-death-and-the-flavia-albia-series |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |access-date=10 April 2019 |date=2 April 2019}}</ref> By 2022 she had published three more Albia books, set in particular locations just outside the wall of Rome. After two further books in and around Rome, her 13th Flavia Alba book was set near Pompeii, ten years after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.<ref name=lindsey2024oct7>{{cite web |title=Lindsey's Page |url=https://lindseydavis.co.uk/lindseys-page/ |publisher=Lindsey Davis |access-date=7 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007112704/https://lindseydavis.co.uk/lindseys-page/ |archive-date=7 October 2024 |quote=The 13th Flavia Albia is now finished ... It's set in Stabiae on the Bay of Naples, during the reconstruction after the Vesuvius disaster.}}</ref>
Davis has won many literary awards, including, in 2011, the Cartier Diamond Dagger of the Crime Writers' Association given to authors who have made an outstanding lifetime contribution to the genre.<ref name=allen>{{cite news|last=Allen|first=Katie|title=Davis to be awarded Cartier Diamond Dagger Award|url=http://www.thebookseller.com/news/davis-be-awarded-cartier-diamond-dagger-award.html|access-date=26 January 2011|newspaper=The Bookseller|date=25 January 2011|archive-date=13 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140313131854/http://www.thebookseller.com/news/davis-be-awarded-cartier-diamond-dagger-award.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> She was honorary president of the Classical Association from 1997 to 1998, and is a life member of the Council of the Society of Authors.<ref name="soa">{{cite web |title=About: Council and President: Lindsey Davis |url=https://www.societyofauthors.org/About-Us/Council/Lindsey-Davis |website=www.societyofauthors.org |publisher=The Society of Authors |access-date=29 November 2021}}</ref>
==Adaptations==
Davis' first Falco novel, ''The Silver Pigs'', was loosely adapted in 1993 as ''Age of Treason''. Starring Bryan Brown, Amanda Pays and Anthony Valentine, the screenplay by Lee David Zlotoff bore little resemblance to the original novel, and Davis had her name removed from the credits.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lindseydavis.co.uk/books/on-the-screen/ |title=On the Screen |work=The Official Lindsey Davis Website |access-date=2026-03-12 }}</ref>
The BBC adapted the first five Falco novels (''The Silver Pigs'', ''Shadows in Bronze'', ''Venus in Copper'', ''The Iron Hand of Mars'' and ''Poseidon's Gold'') as full cast radio dramas starring Anton Lesser as Falco, with Fritha Goodey and Anna Madeley as Helena.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lindseydavis.co.uk/books/on-the-radio/ |title=On the Radio |work=The Official Lindsey Davis Website |access-date=2026-03-12 }}</ref>
== Published works ==
=== Marcus Didius Falco === # ''The Silver Pigs'' (1989) # ''Shadows in Bronze'' (1990) # ''Venus in Copper'' (1991) # ''The Iron Hand of Mars'' (1992) # ''Poseidon's Gold'' (1993) # ''Last Act in Palmyra'' (1994) # ''Time to Depart'' (1995) # ''A Dying Light in Corduba'' (1996) # ''Three Hands in the Fountain'' (1997) # ''Two for the Lions'' (1998) # ''One Virgin Too Many'' (1999) # ''Ode to a Banker'' (2000) # ''A Body in the Bath House'' (2001) # ''The Jupiter Myth'' (2002) # ''The Accusers'' (2003) # ''Scandal Takes a Holiday'' (2004) # ''See Delphi and Die'' (2005) # ''Saturnalia'' (2007) # ''Alexandria'' (2009) # ''Nemesis'' (2010)
'''Omnibus editions''' * ''Falco on His Metal'' (1999) ** ''Venus in Copper'' ** ''The Iron Hand of Mars'' ** ''Poseidon's Gold'' * ''Falco on the Loose'' (2003) ** ''Last Act in Palmyra'' ** ''Time to Depart'' ** ''A Dying Light in Corduba''
'''Companion''' * ''Falco: The Official Companion'' (2010)
===Flavia Albia=== # ''The Ides of April'' (2013, Hodder & Stoughton, {{ISBN|978-1-4447-5581-7}}) # ''Enemies at Home'' (2014, Hodder & Stoughton, {{ISBN|978-1444766585}}) # ''Deadly Election'' (2015, Hodder & Stoughton, {{ISBN|9781444794229}}) # ''The Graveyard of the Hesperides'' (2016, Hodder & Stoughton, {{ISBN|9781473613386}}) # ''The Third Nero'' (2017, Hodder & Stoughton, {{ISBN|9781473613423}}) #''Pandora's Boy'' (2018, Hodder & Stoughton, {{ISBN| 9781473658653}}) #''A Capitol Death'' (2019, Hodder & Stoughton, {{ISBN| 9781473658745}}) #''The Grove of the Caesars'' (2020, Hodder & Stoughton, {{ISBN| 9781529374247}}) #''A Comedy of Terrors'' (2021) ({{ISBN|9781529374322}}) #''Desperate Undertaking'' (2022, Hodder & Stoughton, {{ISBN|978-1529354683}}) #''Fatal Legacy'' (2023, Hodder & Stoughton, {{ISBN|9781529354737}}) #''Death on the Tiber'' (2024, Hodder & Stoughton, {{ISBN|978-1399719612}}) #''There Will Be Bodies'' (2025, Hodder & Stoughton, {{ISBN| 9781399719636}}) #''Murder in Purple and Gold'' (2026, Hodder & Stoughton, {{ISBN|9781399747998}})
=== Other works set in ancient Rome === '''Novels''' * ''The Course of Honour'' (1997) * ''Master and God'' (2012)
'''Novellas''' * ''The Spook Who Spoke Again'' (2015, ebook and audio only, {{ISBN|9781473617001}})<ref>{{cite web|title=The Spook Who Spoke Again|url=http://www.lindseydavis.co.uk/publications/the-spook-who-spoke-again/|publisher=Lindsey Davis|access-date=22 May 2015}}</ref> * ''Vesuvius by Night'' (2017, ebook and audio only, {{ISBN|9781473658851}})<ref>{{cite web|title=Vesuvius by Night|url=http://www.lindseydavis.co.uk/publications/vesuvius-by-night/|publisher=Lindsey Davis|access-date=15 February 2017}}</ref> * ''Invitation to Die'' (2019, ebook and audio only, {{ASIN|B07L31RZ4G}})
'''Novella collection''' *''Voices of Rome: Four Stories of Ancient Rome'' (2023, Hodder & Stoughton:{{ISBN|9781399721332}}) comprising ''The Bride from Bithynia'', ''The Spook Who Spoke Again'', ''Vesuvius by Night'', and ''Invitation to Die''
=== English Civil War === * ''Rebels and Traitors'' (2009) * ''A Cruel Fate'' (3 February 2014, Hodder & Stoughton: {{ISBN|9781444763188}}),<ref>{{Cite book|url = http://www.hodder.co.uk/books/detail.page?isbn=9781444763188|title = Lindsey Davis - A Cruel Fate|website = Hodder and Stoughton| isbn=978-1-4447-6318-8 |access-date = 1 August 2013}}</ref> (a QuickRead set in the English Civil War)<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.lindseydavis.co.uk/publications/a-cruel-fate/|title = A Cruel Fate|access-date = 1 August 2013|website = Lindsey Davis official website}}</ref>
=== Short story ===
* "'Going Anywhere Nice?'" (2005), published in ''The Detection Collection'', edited by Simon Brett.
==Awards and nominations== * Shortlisted for the Georgette Heyer Prize for two unpublished works (pre-Falco). * Winner of the Author's Club Prize for "Best First Novel" in 1989 for ''The Silver Pigs''. * Winner of the Crime Writers' Association (CWA): Dagger in the Library for being an author "whose work has given most pleasure" in 1995. {{cite web | url=http://www.thecwa.co.uk/daggers/library.html | title=The Dagger in the Library | publisher=CWA | access-date=17 August 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120514063945/http://www.thecwa.co.uk/daggers/library.html | archive-date=14 May 2012 }} * Winner of the first Ellis Peters Historical Dagger awarded by the Crime Writers' Association in 1999 for ''Two for the Lions''.{{cite web|url=http://www.thecwa.co.uk/daggers/historical.html |title=The Ellis Peters Historical Award |access-date=17 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131107114654/http://www.thecwa.co.uk/daggers/historical.html |archive-date= 7 November 2013 }} * Winner of the Sherlock Award for the Best Comic Detective in 2000 for Didius Falco.<ref name="sherlock">{{cite web |title=Sherlock Awards |url=http://www.sherlockholmes.com/media/awards-winners.htm |publisher=Sherlock Magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061019112130/http://www.sherlockholmes.com/media/awards-winners.htm |archive-date=19 October 2006 |date=2004}}</ref> * Awarded the 2010 Premio Colosseo, awarded by the city of Rome to someone who ''"has enhanced the image of Rome in the world"''<ref>{{cite web|title=Management Committee|url=http://www.societyofauthors.org/management-committee|work=Society of Authors|access-date=3 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100920224818/http://www.societyofauthors.org/management-committee|archive-date=20 September 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> * Winner of the 2011 Cartier Diamond Dagger from the Crime Writers' Association<ref name=allen /> * Winner in 2013 of the first Barcelona Historical Novel Prize (''Premi Internacional de Novella Històrica Barcino'')<ref>{{cite news | url=http://ccaa.elpais.com/ccaa/2013/11/12/catalunya/1384290318_675953.html | newspaper=El Pais | title=Lindsey Davis recoge el Premio de Novela Histórica Barcino | date=13 November 2013 | access-date=1 May 2014 | first=Paula | last=Montana Tor}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Wikiquote}} * [http://www.lindseydavis.co.uk/ The official website of Lindsey Davis] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20041209194122/http://www.txclassics.org/exrpts3.htm Interview with Lindsey Davis] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070208105525/http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/lindsey_davis/index.html RandomHouse Publisher's newsletters] * [https://www.hodder.co.uk/Articles/Lindsey%20Davis%20Newsletter.page Hodder & Stoughton Publisher's newsletters] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170414081936/https://www.hodder.co.uk/Articles/Lindsey%20Davis%20Newsletter.page |date=14 April 2017 }} *[https://dunnettcentral.org/videos/lindseydavis Lindsey Davis speaks to the Dorothy Dunnett Society] ''1h27m video of 2018 talk and Q&A session'' *[https://vimeo.com/401996943 Lindsey Davis talks about ''The Grove of the Caesars'', 28 March 2020] 50 minute video: Davis talks about her life and writing *{{imdb title|tt0106227|Age of Treason}}
{{Falco novels}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Lindsey}} Category:1949 births Category:20th-century English novelists Category:21st-century English novelists Category:English crime fiction writers Category:English mystery writers Category:Alumni of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Category:English historical novelists Category:Writers of historical mysteries Category:Living people Category:Writers from Birmingham, West Midlands Category:Writers of historical fiction set in antiquity Category:English women mystery writers Category:English women historical novelists Category:Cartier Diamond Dagger winners Category:Presidents of the Classical Association Category:20th-century English women novelists Category:21st-century English women novelists