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David Wishart
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Ovid (Marcus Corvinus Book 1) Kindle Edition

by David Wishart (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 578 ratings
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When young aristocratic layabout Marcus Corvinus is approached by the stepdaughter of the exiled and now dead Roman poet Ovid and asked to clear the return of the ashes for burial, he cheerfully agrees; there should, he thinks, be no problem. Only when he makes the application to the imperial authorities it’s turned down flat. So what, Corvinus asks himself, did Ovid do that was so bad that they won’t even allow his bones back into Italy?
The first book in the Marcus Corvinus series.
Previous page
  1. Book 1 of 21
    Marcus Corvinus
  2. Print length
    388 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publication date
    March 16, 2015
  6. File size
    4966 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

'gripping, ... intellectually stimulating ... Chandler meets Robert Graves and John Barth' -- Times Literary Supplement

About the Author

David Wishart studied Classics at Edinburgh University. He then taught Latin and Greek in school for four years and after this retrained as a teacher of EFL. He lived and worked abroad for eleven years, working in Kuwait, Greece and Saudi Arabia, and now lives with his wife and family in Scotland.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00UTTE1DY
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ (March 16, 2015)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 16, 2015
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 4966 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 388 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0340646837
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 578 ratings

About the author

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David Wishart

David Wishart

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
578 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Anne Mills
5.0 out of 5 stars One Of My Favorite Roman Mysteries -- A Distinctive Voice
Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2013
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The first in the Marcus Valerius Corvinus series of Roman mysteries, and the best. The book introduces our hero -- an aristocrat who is much more interested in having fun than in doing his civic duty, which puts him at odds with his father and family. He is asked by the (extremely attractive) Lady Perilla to help her get the ashes of her uncle, the poet Ovid, back from his place of exile on the Black Sea. Marcus efforts lead him deep into political plot and counterplot, and into danger of death.

Wishart, a classics professor, gives us yet another brilliant recreation of ancient Rome, and is particularly good at weaving his fiction around actual historical events. And he is a very funny writer -- Marcus is a reprehensible hero, but one with a distinctive voice and a very sharp tongue. Very enjoyable book.
One person found this helpful
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Apple
4.0 out of 5 stars Cold Case Solved
Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2015
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Although there is a lot of detail and period names, the voices in the story speak with a more modern dialect making it a little easier to weave through the complex story bolstered by actual events but also the inventions of the author. I thoroughly enjoyed "Finished Business" and decided to start with Book 1 of the Marcus Corvinus series. What makes this opening book so much fun is that Marcus begins by solving a cold case in order to solve what would normally seem like a very simple request. All of the ins, outs and intrigues can get confusing so I recommend slowing down and really enjoying new characters, the back stories, the environment, and the young Marcus who will be maturing and growing as this series continues. I only hope each story is as enjoyable and fun to read. I guess I will find out since I just got three more.
3 people found this helpful
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Shirley Hamilton
5.0 out of 5 stars Great History
Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2012
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Old Rome comes alive with David Wishart. I don't know how historically correct he is but it's certainly enjoyable. It's such a different world. Walking everywhere. Slaves and owners but not based on the color of the skin. Just the cooking of food was so different. It's a wonder we have come this far when it seems people have been all the same through the years. Greed moved the world back then and it still does. This book gave me a different perspective on history. I'm getting more of his books.
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Baka
4.0 out of 5 stars Good story but dialogue falls a bit flat
Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2016
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This is the first Roman mystery I have read by David Wishart. I will read the rest of the series as i quite like his character Marcus Corvinus. BUT, his dialogue leaves a lot to be desired I'm afraid. It seems to be a cross between 1940's Mickey Spillane and modern day terminology. He does a great job of putting you into the picture of the sights and smells and descriptions of the Roman world of that time but he isn't a Rosemary Rowe or Lindsay Davis (my two favourite Roman mystery writers). The story line was good and I like that he gives life to familiar and famous people of that time. But somehow I don't think the words "easy peasy" as stated by Marcu Corvinus would have been in use in ancient Rome.
3 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Amount of Atrocious Anachronisms
Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2013
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I really enjoy reading novels set in ancient Rome. I was excited to find the Marcus Corvinus mysteries by David Wishart. Now I'm glad I started with Ovid, and didn't purchase any others in the series.

I think the proper usage of words is important. If you're not bothered by the author's flagrant use of anachronisms, you'll most likely enjoy this book. The story is fairly good. It's an easy read if you can get past the use of words that don't belong.

Here is a sampling of some of the stand outs: a campaign 'bombs'; a search provides 'zilch' results. Our hero finds a 'hit man' to 'take the rap'. When an 'easy-peasy' (I'm not making this up. A Roman is quoted as saying 'easy-peasy') project once again 'bombs' (am I flunking history? Did Rome have bombs? I don't think so), sadly, it was a 'bummer'. There's the drama of one of the 'band of jolly mates' going from 'star billing to supporting role.' But would the bad guys prevail? They 'had no hope in hell'. I'm pretty sure no Roman had a concept of our modern hell. Hades, yes; Hell, no.
8 people found this helpful
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Dawn Harrington
5.0 out of 5 stars Great historical fiction!
Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2019
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David Wishart takes excellent liberties with historical facts and weaves a tale of mystery and intrigue. Especially enjoyable are the insights into ancient Roman society. The explanation of the historical characters after the story are just as interesting and insightful and further lend to the clever talent of the author.
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sharlee
4.0 out of 5 stars Good Storyline - Too Modern of Language Used
Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2015
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I wasn't sure that I would enjoy this story. I did not start this series by reading the books in order. The one I began will I didn't like very much. It had a good storyline, but the modern language ruined it. I didn't want to read the work Pal or Lady another time. The constant repetition of a few phrases was as bad as listening to someone run his fingers on a blackboard.

Because I like the storyline, I decided to read this book, and the next two. I enjoyed them and didn't not find the modern language so repetitious that it was annoying. I will probably continue with the series.
3 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping Suspense
Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2020
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I love these "bites" of history told in a story based on real people in real times. Though it is sometimes a problem dealing with all the potential villians, the tale is well told.
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Top reviews from other countries

Wednesday's child
5.0 out of 5 stars A different take on Ancient Rome, and brain exercise, too.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 23, 2018
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Be warned - Marcus Corvinus, our hero, does swear. I suspect that this series of books falls into the Marmite category - you either love them or hate them. I wasn't sure when I downloaded my Kindle sample, but I quickly found the book enjoyable - so much so that I've read all 20 now and am starting again. It's lovely stuff as long as you can deal with the idea that our hero speaks in a very un-Roman fashion - that is, as far as we know; after all, every society has its slang terms, and the character of Corvinus is quite believable - a rich young man with a knack for solving puzzles and a dislike of the ruling classes' stuffy and close-knit old-boy network. Maybe a guy like him would have spoken in the Ancient Roman equivalent of a character from a private-eye yarn when it suited him. And he does have a love of the f-word - a great love! But it all flows, and the plotting is amazingly intricate and persuasive, as it is in the whole series. Because David Wishart's research is so reliable, the intricacies of his plots tend to open one's mind to historical possibilities. His take on the reasons for Ovid's exile is not necessarily far-fetched; anyone who watched the series "I, Claudius," will be happy to accept that the Romans plotted as they drew breath. This book is one of the "historical" ones - books whose plot is based on historical events which cry out for an explanation. Others in the series deal with non-historical characters and plots. If you like Lindsey Davis or Steven Saylor you may or may not like these books - they're very different in tone and style. But if you're fascinated by Ancient Rome, you'll learn a lot. I am, and I have. I also found that the general tone of these books is less dark than the Lindsey Davis "Falco" ones, much as I love those, and if I'm looking for a brain-teasing romp, these are great books. I mean it about the brain-teasing - you have to have your wits abot you to follow these plots, and the endless permutations of Roman names. Don't nod off or you'll have to go back and find the thread again. Worth the effort, though.
4 people found this helpful
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Dee
1.0 out of 5 stars the main character speaks and behave like an contemporaneous spoiled brat
Reviewed in Canada on August 9, 2016
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Very disappointing book. The language is atrocious, the main character speaks and behave like an contemporaneous spoiled brat.
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Athanasius
4.0 out of 5 stars Walking the mean streets of Rome
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 1, 2020
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The first of the Marcus Corvinus mysteries, this book was a delight to read. Rattling along at an exhilarating clip, it's essentially Philip Marlowe in ancient Rome, assuming Marlowe was a patrician. David Wishart is graduate in classics and a former teacher of Latin and Greek, and it shows. The book was obviously written by somebody extensively trained in the milieu he writes of, not just somebody who'd done his homework before writing. But, contrary to the expectation that somebody with this background would write in a stuffy and reverential way about his subject, anyone can plunge straight in and enjoy this one. No knowledge of the ancient world is necessary.

Marcus Corvinus is a young Roman nobleman, basically enjoying a life of debauchery and licence in the heart of the greatest empire in the world. It's a happy position to be in, and Corvinus is not a man wracked with angst at the echoing voyage of his life. He likes it just fine. Enter the Lady Perilla, the stepdaughter of the great Roman poet Ovid. Icily beautiful and unimpressed by Corvinus's excesses, Perilla and her family are the "clients" of the Corvinus family. As such, they have the right to call upon their patrons when in need of services or representation. In this case, Perilla seeks the return to Rome for burial of the ashes of Ovid, recently deceased, from his place of exile on the Black Sea. This is a genuine historical mystery. Ovid WAS exiled to the furthest corner of the Empire, but for reasons which, to this day, remain unknown to any. Even Ovid himself never wrote about it. It's a brilliant place to start a mystery novel.

Under pressure from the formidable Perilla (and anxious to ...ahem..."impress" the lady) Corvinus sets about the simple task of getting permission from "the Imperials", the royal family of Rome, to bring Ovid's remains back. It should be easy enough. Whatever happened, happened years before. Nobody should be that bothered anymore.
Things, we need hardly say, don't go quite so swimmingly. After getting unceremoniously pitched out of the palace on his patrician ear, Corvinus's aristocratic sense of entitlement is outraged and he sets about getting to the truth, running the gauntlet of scheming politicians, Illyrian street thugs and renegade legionaries along the way. The whole ride is a hoot and the plot twists and turns up hill and down dale to the last page.

Wishart's use of language would be a little questionable to some. It's pulp fiction English, not at all the portentous or serious tone you associate with historical writing, but I have to say, I loved it. Example - when taking the Lady Perilla into a less than salubrious part of the city, he brings along four giant Gallic slaves for protection. Anxious that they should understand their number one responsibility was to ensure the Lady Perilla's safety, "I had a quiet word with them before we left to make sure they knew where their priorities lay, and what exactly would happen if they got them wrong. I'd never actually seen a matching set of six-foot Gallic eunuchs on the market but there was a first time for everything". It's laugh out loud stuff

So, downside? Well, in fairness, there are times when the language IS a bit much, a little anachronistic. Plans sometimes "bomb", for instance, which kind of takes you out of the period. Also, the plot is somewhat convoluted. Wishart attempts to link the exiles of Octavian's daughter and granddaughter with the catastrophic loss of the Varus legions in Germany and twist the whole thing in to a single plot. I don't think he quite succeeds, but he's such a wonderfully fluid writer you just say, "what the hell" and enjoy the ride. I'll certainly be back to this series. Highly recommended.
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Edelbee
3.0 out of 5 stars Samus Spadius
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 30, 2009
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I very much wanted to be able to say that I really liked this book. It seemed so promising; written by a scholar of the Classics, part of an established series of novels based around the main character and described as an elegant solution to an historical mystery; namely why did the Emperor Augustus exile the poet Ovid to an obscure and lonely outpost of the Roman Empire? What heinous crime did he commit to warrant such treatment? The novel proposes an interesting but not very convincing solution to this puzzle. Corvinus, the hero of the novel, is made to speak throughout the novel in an irritating cod-Americanese Sam Spade like dialect. (For example "the guy could still have connections--"; "So big Fritz had been a soldier--";"What the hell is that ? -- Guy calls it Gorilla Juice--".)Corvinus, like Falco, is clearly inspired in part by the great figures of American detective fiction such as Phillip Marlowe, Sam Spade and so on but does he need to be made to parody the likes of the latter? I found this and the constant flow of not very entertaining wise cracks that drenched the pages of this novel very very annoying. They distracted from and contributed little to the plot- entertaining as that was- and spoiled what could otherwise have been an enjoyable, if not wholly satisfying, read. Better I think to stick with Falco and Gordianus.
3 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars A front runner.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 2, 2019
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Like so many folk I count Lindsey Davis as the queen of fiction set in ancient Rome. However, David Wishart is a front runner amongst the many in the same field. For a start his hero, Marcus Corvinus is a well drawn character and very likable, as is his lady love. Our very young aristocratic hero is asked to help return the ashes of an exiled poet to rest in Roman soil. Our young hero is promoted by list to help and then by dogged curiosity because the powers that be refuse the request. Why? Out spills a ragtag of conspiracies to unravel and here I have to confess my mind went into meltdown with all the theories and names that sounded like other names. Oh, dear. But...and it is an important 'but' the main character was strongly enough written and exciting enough to keep me following after him even though I did not have his jugs of fine wine to help smooth the chase. I look forward to his next adventure and his tour of the districts of Ancient Rome. Now I know where to go (as a time traveller) if I want fish or a blacksmith or a fruit market. Thoroughly recommended.
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