Fatal Legacy

{{Short description|2023 historical crime novel by Lindsey Davis}}

{{about|the novel|the play|The Fatal Legacy}}

{{Use British English|date=March 2023}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}

{{Infobox book

| italic title =

| name = Fatal Legacy

| image = File:Cover_of_Fatal_Legacy_by_Lindsey_Davis_1st_UK_ed.jpg

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| caption = Cover of 1st UK hardback edition 2023

| author = Lindsey Davis

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| country = UK

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| series = Flavia Albia

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| genre = historical fiction, crime fiction

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| publisher = Hodder & Stoughton

| publisher2 = Minotaur Books

| pub_date = 6 April 2023

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| isbn = 9781529354737

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| preceded_by = Desperate Undertaking

| followed_by = Death on the Tiber

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Fatal Legacy is a historical crime novel by British writer Lindsey Davis, the eleventh in her Flavia Albia series. It was published in the UK on 6 April 2023 by Hodder & Stoughton ({{ISBN|9781529354737}}){{cite book|title=Fatal Legacy |date=13 December 2021 |url=https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/lindsey-davis/fatal-legacy/9781529354737/|publisher=Hodder & Stoughton|isbn=9781529354737 |accessdate=29 March 2022}} and in the United States on 18 July 2023 by Minotaur Books ({{ISBN| 9781250799906}}).{{cite web |title=Fatal Legacy |url=https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250799906/fatal-legacy |website=Macmillan |access-date=29 March 2023}}

The plot, set in Rome in AD 90, involves, amongst other aspects of Roman life: an unpaid bar bill; a missing will and codicil; a rabbit farm; an orchard planted variously with walnuts, apricots and cherries; freed slaves; suspicious deaths; and feuding families with labyrinthine family trees.Plot details from the book Before publication, the author wrote: "The joke of this plot is that it is impossible to summarise".{{cite web |title=Fatal Legacy |url=https://lindseydavis.co.uk/publications/fatal-legacy/ |website=Lindsey Davis official website |publisher= |access-date=29 March 2023}} It takes place on the Aventine and Caelian hills and at the Forum Romanum.

The cover of the first UK hardback edition shows a pair of shears against a mosaic showing a rabbit. The cover of the first American edition shows a woman holding a large dagger behind her back, and an armoured Roman soldier, inside a building.

Writing in The Globe and Mail, Margaret Cannon called the novel "as light as air and as witty and amusing as Davis’s finest Falco books of yore".{{Cite news |last=Cannon |first=Margaret |date=2023-07-27 |title=Ten thrillers to read in the heat of summer |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/article-ten-thrillers-for-the-heat-of-summer/ |access-date=2024-10-27 |work=The Globe and Mail |language=en-CA}} Publishers Weekly wrote that it was "more low-key than past entries, but no less gripping",{{Cite journal |date=2023-05-29 |title=Fatal Legacy: A Flavia Albia Novel. |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A753088903/LitRC |journal=Publishers Weekly |language=English |volume=270 |issue=22 |pages=98–99 |via=Gale}} while Kirkus Reviews called it "dark mystery encased in a rich portrait of ancient Rome."{{Cite journal |date=2023-06-01 |title=Davis, Lindsey: FATAL LEGACY. |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A751049911/LitRC |journal=Kirkus Reviews |language=English |pages= |via=Gale}} The Historical Novel Society also gave a favourable review.{{Cite web |last=Ashworth |first=Mike |date=August 2023 |title=Fatal Legacy (Flavia Albia) |url=https://historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/fatal-legacy-flavia-albia/ |access-date=2024-10-27 |website=Historical Novel Society}}