Desperate Undertaking
Cover of 1st UK hardback edition 2022
AuthorLindsey Davis
CountryUK
SeriesFlavia Albia
Genrehistorical fiction, crime fiction
PublisherHodder & Stoughton, Minotaur Books
Publication date
7 April 2022
ISBN9781529354713
Preceded byA Comedy of Terrors 
Followed byFatal Legacy 

Desperate Undertaking is a historical novel by British writer Lindsey Davis, the tenth in her Flavia Albia series. It was published in the UK on 7 April 2022 by Hodder & Stoughton (ISBN 9781529354713)[1] and in the United States on 27 July 2022 by Minotaur Books (ISBN 9781250799883).[2]

The tale is set in Rome in late December 89 AD, set in and around the Field of Mars, and involving murders among the theatrical community.[1][3] It is divided into parts, of varying lengths, with titles "Laureolus", "Pasiphae", "Oedipus Rex", "Medea", "Selurus the bandit king of Sicily", "Orpheus or possibly Daedalus", "Aeschylus", "Jason" and "The Girl from Londinium".[4]

The cover of the first UK hardback edition shows a damaged bas-relief carving of a seated man contemplating a theatrical mask which he holds in his outstretched hand.[1] The image is of part of "Relief of a seated poet (Menander) with masks of New Comedy, 1st century B.C.–early 1st century A.D.", held by the Princeton University Art Museum.[5] The American cover shows a girl in a white and purple tunic looking towards a Roman theatre while clutching a large dagger.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Desperate Undertaking. Hodder & Stoughton. 6 October 2021. ISBN 9781529354713. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  2. 1 2 "Desperate Undertaking". Macmillan. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  3. ↑ "Desperate Undertaking". Lindsey Davis. 1 October 2021. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  4. ↑ Davis, Lindsey (2022). Desperate Undertaking. Hodder & Stoughton. pp. 1, 77, 181, 277, 311, 355, 375, 389, 399. ISBN 9781529354713.
  5. ↑ "Relief of a seated poet (Menander) with masks of New Comedy (y1951-1)". artmuseum.princeton.edu. Retrieved 10 April 2022. Identified in an acknowledgement on the dustjacket


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