Write Out Loud (Reviews and Writing)

“…It’s all a little too much Enid Blyton for me…”

Well, it finally happened. After months of reading and loving Caroline Lawrence’s excellent novels for older children/young adults, I’ve finally hit the dud.

Lawrence’s writing remains great and, of course, her research in ancient Roman history and lifestyle is second to none. But her plot is, frankly, annoying.

The premise is the attempted murder of the father of Flavia, the ‘ringleader’ of the gang of four detective children. Finding her tutor, Aristo, standing over the bloody body with the bloody knife in his hands seems a dead cert. But Aristo escapes custody and the four heroes set of in pursuit to bring him to justice.

The problem is, this would have worked one or two books into the series when we were still learning who was who and whether a bad guy or good guy would remain that way. But ten books in, this isn’t a believable premise. We know Aristo well. We know his good points and we know his failings. It’s obvious, even to a child, that Aristo is going to be innocent. There has to be, after all, a mystery, and it isn’t a difficult one to fathom.

Everyone in the story seems to know this too, except Flavia who is determined Aristo is guilty and needs bringing to justice. But Flavia is meant to be the clever one who puts all the clues together. She never does though and the trope that she’s the clever one just isn’t working now.

But much worse than this is the fact that a main character can instantly think so badly of someone she’s known and loved for a long time. Flavia is more than ready to see Aristo hang for his crime and nothing will dissuade her from this – until, of course, the real culprit becomes too obvious. At which point, all is suddenly forgiven and everything is going to be just fine. Even the actual person who attempted to kill Flavia’s father gets a certain amount of forgiveness and embraced into the family.

It’s all a little too much Enid Blyton for me. A would-be murderer is found just in time for tea and all is right with the world. What a chortle!

Oh dear.

Well, I’ve got seven more books to go in the series and I will finish and review them all, so let’s hope this is just a ‘bad day’ for Lawrence and the remaining stories get back to the quality of the others. I hope so, because I really have enjoyed these books so far. Even this one, with a plot that makes me curl, has still been an enjoyable romp through Roman lands and history. I have just come expect better plots from this author.

Let’s see what happens next!

My Verdict:

Read all the reviews for this series:

• Reflection: The Roman Mysteries by Caroline Lawrence
• The Roman Mysteries I – The Thieves of Ostia by Caroline Lawrence
• The Roman Mysteries II – The Secrets of Vesuvius by Caroline Lawrence
• The Roman Mysteries III – The Pirates of Pompeii
• The Roman Mysteries IV – The Assassins of Rome by Caroline Lawrence
• The Roman Mysteries V – The Dolphins of Laurentum by Caroline Lawrence
• The Roman Mysteries VI – The Twelve Tasks of Flavia Gemina by Caroline Lawrence
• The Roman Mysteries VII – The Enemies of Jupiter by Caroline Lawrence
• The Roman Mysteries VIII – The Gladiators from Capua by Caroline Lawrence
• The Roman Mysteries IX – The Colossus of Rhodes by Caroline Lawrence
• The Roman Mysteries X – The Fugitive from Corinth by Caroline Lawrence
• The Roman Mysteries XI – The Sirens of Surrentum by Caroline Lawrence
• The Roman Mysteries XII – The Charioteer of Delphi by Caroline Lawrence
• The Roman Mysteries XIII – The Slave-girl from Jerusalem by Caroline Lawrence

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Social Entrepreneur, educationalist, bestselling author and journalist, D K Powell is the author of the bestselling collection of literary short stories “The Old Man on the Beach“. His first book, ‘Sonali’ is a photo-memoir journal of life in Bangladesh and has been highly praised by the Bangladeshi diaspora worldwide. Students learning the Bengali language have also valued the English/Bengali translations on every page. His third book is ‘Try not to Laugh’ and is a guide to memorising, revising and passing exams for students.

Both ‘The Old Man on the Beach’ and ‘Sonali’ are available on Amazon for kindle and paperback. Published by Shopno Sriti Media. The novel,’The Pukur’, was published by Histria Books in 2022.

D K Powell is available to speak at events (see his TEDx talk here) and can be contacted at dkpowell.contact@gmail.com. Alternatively, he is available for one-to-one mentoring and runs a course on the psychology of writing. Listen to his life story in interview with the BBC here.

Ken writes for a number of publications around the world. Past reviewer for Paste magazine, The Doughnut, E2D and United Airways and Lancashire Life magazine. Currently reviews for Northern Arts Review. His reviews have been read more than 7.9 million times.

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