Book Review: The Roman Mysteries XI – The Sirens of Surrentum by Caroline Lawrence

If you have been following my reviews of this series of books, then you’ll know I have a bit of personal history with them. By that I mean that my daughter and I both enjoyed reading the early books when she was a student, and I was a teacher, at a school in Bangladesh. That school held to strict Christian morals and that meant there was a clash with one of the books where – shock, horror – a kiss took place. Once discovered, the series was effectively banned from the school library.

I was delighted to buy the set of books, many years later, and explore anew, plus find out what all the fuss was about. I reached the first book I didn’t recall reading and, indeed, there was some kissing involving two of the child detective heroes in the series. It was mild; it was nothing scandalous. All very funny that someone at our school thought it worth removing the books.

Later books have ‘grown’ with the characters, albeit that all the action so far has taken place largely over the course of a year, so the four protagonists really aren’t much older. Nevertheless, Flavia, the main detective, has reached an age where an arranged marriage is on the cards (this is ancient Rome circa 80AD, of course). Talk of marriage, with hints of relationships potentially beginning, has been about the extent of it.

Until now.

You know when you have a moment where something you thought was the case turns out not to be and you kind of go. “Ah, I see”? That has happened to me with book XI of this brilliant children’s series.

Flavia and the gang end up back at the house of Felix and Polla, trying to figure out who is trying to poison Polla. Flavia continues to battle her desires for Felix – and older, unobtainable man, married to Polla. At the same time, she meets the boy who she is due to marry, while another young man starts to take a definite interest in her. It’s all rather messy.

Worse, all is not right at the villa and the surrounding environment. There’s something lustful and rotten that pervades everything. While you don’t get to see any sex, there’s very, very strong hints that it is going on – a lot!

It’s at this point that I concede, this book probably isn’t for very young children (and our school started from Kindergarten age). We’ve entered at least High school/Key stage 3 here. Kids reading this need to be at least on the verge of becoming teenagers, I would say. The author is careful to avoid saying things explicitly, but younger readers are going to be left confused and probably ask parents and teachers awkward and embarrassing questions.

That aside, the novel is a fine one – back to reasonably high standards and as good as any of the others, albeit that there’s a sense of similar scenes taking place. The plot devices – usually such things as the four heroes and their friends heading in different directions to investigate certain lines of inquiry – are not yet boring and hackneyed, but they are well worn. Like comfortable shoes.

I wasn’t desperately moved by this book but then we really are mid-story arc for the whole series so I guess that’s a big ask. There’s more than a strong hint that this book is really a vehicle to drive other storylines on, ones that have been building for a long time. These are all storylines we must be interested in by now if we’ve come this far in the series, so that’s perfectly fine. I’m looking forward to book XII to see where these go next.

The finale was reasonably predictable to anyone who has read a lot of detective fiction, but still good enough to hold the younger reader and keep them interested. I suspect anyone reading thus far is likely more interested in the characters than the mysteries themselves, so it ‘s all good.

We’re on the end stretch with this series now and I continue to be impressed with Caroline Lawrence. her storytelling isn’t perfect and flaws are showing a little, but these are still very enjoyable yarns set and a relatively realistic ancient Rome.

My verdict:

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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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