Show 19th Nov & letter from Lindsey Davis

Welcome to the bookshow on radio scilly 107.9fm with my guests today ro bennett a firsttimer & Malcolm Martland an oldtimer….books under the cosh are: Saturnalia by Lyndsey Davis Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson, The time traveler's wife by Audrey Niffenegger.
Ro, you are reviewing the book by Lindsey Davis, this is the first time that one of her books have been reviewed on the show so I emailed Lindsey's website and got a reply. I get really excited when I receive a reply from one of the authors whose books are being reviewed as I know how busy they are and its great that they will take the time, so here it is, from Lindsey Davis:

'oops - this got a bit lost, but hopefully I am just in time...
You wrote that tomorrow radio Scilly is to review one of my books and asked a couple of questions.
I began writing about ancient Rome because a teacher at school had introduced me to archaeology, at that time mainly the archaeology of Roman Britain and Greece, though Roman archaeology is of course very special and that's how I approach my work (rather than from classical authors, which seems a bit of a cliché by comparison.) I began because nobody else was writing fiction set in this period and I wanted to do something original. That situation has charged rather over the past 20 years! I won't say all the other authors are cashing in, but they are certainly able to do it because I went through the long process of persuading publishers that this would work. It wasn't easy.
I don't read ancient world novels myself, because it's work. I read a lot of non-fiction history and biography, booth Roman and from the Seventeenth Century on English History. Then I read good modern crime novels if I have time and opportunity not enough, sadly.
The different jackets you have seen on Amazon are for the English and American editions, which are by different publishers. They are not meant as fancy alternatives. The novel will eventually be translated into Spanish, so there will be yet another cover then.
I hope this answers your questions. Best of luck for the broadcast.
with kind regards,
Lindsey Davis
www.lindseydavis.co.uk

The only other author so far who replied was Simon Kernick. But no, hold that I have just had a reply from Mike Williams author of the Secret Channel and The Channel to Freedom. It's all great stuff.

In 1999 Lindsey received the Sherlock Award for Best Comic Detective for her creation, Marcus Didius Falco.
'Falco wisecracks his way through the empire's sleazy underside'

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Steig Larsson. Malcolm, I am so glad that someone is reviewing one of these books,as its constantly, over the past months in the top ten & in fact had 3 books in there a few weeks ago! Tragically this Swedish author and journalist died of a heart attack, aged 50, in 2004.