{{short description|2013 mystery novel by Lindsey Davis}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox book <!-- |italic title = (see above) --> | name = The Ides of April | image = Ides of April cover.jpg | image_size = | caption = Front cover of UK hardback | alt = | author = Lindsey Davis | title_orig = | translator = | illustrator = | cover_artist = | country = UK | language = | series = Flavia Albia (Falco: The New Generation) | subject = | genre = historical mystery, crime novel | publisher = Hodder & Stoughton | publisher2 = | pub_date = 11 April 2013 | english_pub_date = | media_type = | pages = 356 | awards = | isbn = 978-1-4447-5581-7 | oclc = | dewey = | congress = | preceded_by = | preceded_by_quotation_marks = | followed_by = Enemies at Home | followed_by_quotation_marks = | wikisource = }} '''''The Ides of April''''' is a 2013 historical mystery crime novel by Lindsey Davis and the first book in the Flavia Albia Mysteries (Falco: The New Generation).<ref>{{cite book|title=The Ides of April ''(Flavia Albia Mysteries) (Flavia Albia Mystery)''|author=Davis, Lindsey|publisher=AudioGO|edition= Unabridged |date=June 11, 2013|language= English|isbn=978-1482100792}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Davis, Lindsey|title=The Ides of April|date=2013|publisher=Hodder Paperback |isbn=9781444755848 |edition=Paperback|url=https://www.amazon.com/Ides-April-Generation-26-Sep-2013-Paperback/dp/B011T71VXC/ref=sr_1_2_twi_kin_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1449563424&sr=1-2&keywords=falco+the+new+generation}}</ref> Set in March and April AD 89, in the Aventine Hill area of Ancient Rome, the novel stars Flavia Albia, the British-born adopted daughter of Marcus Didius Falco (the hero of the author's 20-volume Marcus Didius Falco Mysteries series, published from 1989 to 2010).<ref>{{cite book|last=Davies|first=Lindsey|title=The Ides of April|year=2013|publisher=Hodder & Stoughton|isbn=978-1444755817|page=[https://archive.org/details/idesofapril0000davi/page/1 1]|url=https://archive.org/details/idesofapril0000davi/page/1}}</ref> Albia, a widow, works as a "delatrix" (detective or private informer) in ancient Rome, like Falco. The book's front cover image depicts a small glass pot and a needle dipped in blood. It carries the strapline, "Falco: The New Generation".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Koplowitz-Breier |first=Anat |url=https://brill.com/view/title/34340 |title=Rewriting the Ancient World: Greeks, Romans, Jews and Christians in Modern Popular Fiction |date=2017-07-03 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-34638-3 |editor-last=Maurice |editor-first=Lisa |pages=50 |chapter=A Roman and a Foreigner: Lindsey Davis’s New Roman Detective Series |doi=10.1163/9789004346383}}</ref>
==Connections to the Falco series== Falco and his partner Helena are included in the "Cast list" in the book, and Flavia Albia describes them and their household and visits them during the course of the story, but they do not appear directly in the text. Helena's two brothers are mentioned as being lawyers. Falco's old friend Petro is not mentioned in the cast list, but is referred to as Flavia Albia's "uncle" in the text.
Falco's young brother Postumus, the result of Thalia's pregnancy in ''Nemesis'', is now an awkward 11-year-old, who appears in the book.
Flavia Albia uses Falco's old apartment in Fountain Court as her office, and lives elsewhere in the same building. In ''Enemies at Home'', it is revealed that the Didii bought over the Fountain Court block, possibly from Smaractus, Falco's former landlord.
==Reception== The ''Irish Times'' reviewer wrote: "Irreverent, resourceful and hard-boiled in her patter, Flavia is a heroine to rival her contemporary counterparts VI Warshawski and Kinsey Milhone."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/life-and-death-on-the-mean-streets-of-ancient-rome-1.1355987|title=Life and death on the mean streets of ancient Rome|last=Burke|first=Declan|date=13 April 2013|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=13 April 2013}}</ref> Tom Holland reviewed the book for ''The Guardian''<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/may/09/ides-april-lindsey-davis-review|title=The Ides of April by Lindsey Davis – review|last=Holland|first=Tom|date=9 May 2013|work=The Guardian|access-date=15 May 2013| author-link=Tom Holland (author)}}</ref> and ended:{{blockquote|"If you want to see the worst manners, filthiest motives and saddest ethics," [Albia] says of her own line of work, "this is the profession." Thankfully, though – and as ever with a Davis novel – the narration of these horrors is done so delightfully that the final impression is curiously warm and uplifting.|Tom Holland|''The Guardian''}}
Debra Craine, writing in ''The Times'', included ''The Ides of April'' in her list of ten "best crime novels by women since 2000".<ref name="craine">{{cite news |last1=Craine |first1=Debra |title=The best crime novels by women since 2000 |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/the-best-crime-novels-by-women-since-2000-70hncqhxl |access-date=9 October 2020 |work=The Times |date=28 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite web|url=http://wwwshotsmagcouk.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/the-ides-of-april-with-lindsey-davis.html|title=The Ides of April with Lindsey Davis|date=11 April 2013|work=Shots Crime and Thriller e-Zine}}
==External links== * [http://www.lindseydavis.co.uk/publications/the-ides-of-april/ ''The Ides of April''] on Lindsey Davis' official website * {{cite news|url=http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/books/fiction/article3736953.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130419112947/http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/books/fiction/article3736953.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 April 2013|title=Review: ''The Ides of April'' by Lindsey Davis |last=Berlins |first=Marcel |date=13 April 2013 |work=The Times |access-date=13 April 2013}} ''First paragraph available online available to non-subscribers''
{{Falco novels}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ides of April, The}} Category:British historical novels Category:Flavia Albia novels Category:Hodder & Stoughton books Category:2013 British novels Category:2013 English-language novels Category:89 Category:80s in the Roman Empire Category:1st century in Italy Category:Novels set in the 1st century