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  • Three Hands in the Fountain

  • Marcus Didius Falco, Book 9
  • By: Lindsey Davis
  • Narrated by: Christian Rodska
  • Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (348 ratings)
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Three Hands in the Fountain cover art

Three Hands in the Fountain

By: Lindsey Davis
Narrated by: Christian Rodska
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Summary

Marcus Didius Falco and his friend Petronius find their local fountain has been blocked - by a severed human hand. Soon other body parts are being found in the aqueducts & sewers. The Aventine partners are commissioned to investigate.

©1997 Lindsey Davis (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Three Hands in the Fountain

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Favourite Falco

Hot summer in Rome, a good mystery, and learn about Roman viaducts on the way.
Rodska is the best narrator, and he brings this novel to life. It is very straight forward and not as complcated as some of the other books in the series. Descriptions abound and it is an action driven novel that keeps you right up there with Falco.
Helena and her brothers are there, but more as supporting characters, leaving Marcus and Petro to lead the way.

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6 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Ruined by the narrator.

Another great Falco story but with too many comedy voices. Scythax is from the East and had a dozy Geordie accent. The census scribes were like Julian and Sandy from Round the Horne and too many other characters sounded like they should've been in a Carry On film. The narrator tried hard but didn't quite get what Falco is all about.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I love these books, but

It’s a great story, I really did enjoy it - took ages to get going though.

But does it really need the narrative to be delivered by channeling Eastenders? (Horrible gritty UK soap on TV for so long it’s now traditional)

Worse: it absolutely does not need the tone deaf, ‘Carry On’ movie style of representing gays as massively camp - along with voices - seriously it’s like have the 1970’s tv comedy back on.

Fortunately it’s not too prevalent

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

story good, narrator not so much

The Falco story is, as always, excellent. 'Nuff said. However, I find this narrator irritating. He voices Falco alright, but manages to make all of the other male characters, or most, like cretinous imbeciles, using a voice worthy of the best TV sterotypical low intelligence low class moron. I constantly expect each speech to start with derrrrrr .... Almost put me off the story to be honest, and i love the Falco novels.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Mystery and intrigue in Ancient Rome

If you could sum up Three Hands in the Fountain in three words, what would they be?

Informative, imaginative and exciting

What did you like best about this story?

I love the combination and strength of characters, the way that Falco always seems to be thumbing his nose at all in authority and the historical detail which adds to the story rather than bogging it down.

What about Christian Rodska’s performance did you like?

A natural reader with a wonderful voice

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I very nearly did!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Become an expert in Roman Plumbing with this book

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Having listened to the dramatised version of the Falco stories this is such a disappointment. I did learn a thing or too about Roman plumbing though!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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Best narrator of Falco!

I do like the narration on this book. He's much better at portraying the man from the Aventine than the others.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great listen

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, made all the better by Christian Rodska's reading. He brought all the characters to life.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Exscellent

Once you've read one Falco, you'll find yourself wanting to read another ... and another - they are definitely addictive! This one is just as good as the others preceding it, if rather gruesome at times. There's nothing explicitly nasty however - it is more a case of the imagination filling in the details. As well as the usual crime in need of solving, there is also the wonderful backdrop of Falco's family life which as always, is one of the memorable parts of a Falco book.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Over long with a lot of repetition

This is a murder mystery as told by Abe Simpson. Every person, place and event reminds the story teller of another event so the story goes off on a tangent which is repeated multiple times. Being a man about Rome he also bumps into people he knows every time he goes anywhere so the main story takes a back seat to random encounters. Even though it's a long book the crime is solved by dumb luck.

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