Flavia Albia works occasionally as a Private Informer in Rome in AD 90. In the twelfth book of her self-titled series, this Kinsey Milhone of her day is respectably wed to a thoughtful husband, Tiberius Manlius. DEATH ON THE TIBER is about to disturb their peace.   For those who haven’t caught up with prolific author Lindsey Davis, Flavia was an orphan in Britannica, adopted by Marcus Didius Falco and his wife Helena Justina, the senator’s daughter. Falco, the hero of many comedic crime episodes, features more in this mystery than others about Flavia, who inherited Falco's business when the former informer turned to respectable trading in his family’s line of work.   While engrossed in a search for a marble column to rebuild the Temple of Hercules, Tiberius hears that a river dredger turned up a woman’s body. He and Flavia take a look, and a pricey earring and a British cloak suggest something was gravely amiss. Oh, and the victim’s hands had been tied. Aggrieved for a woman and fellow Briton, Flavia tries to get the vigils to investigate. They aren’t refusing, but aren’t saying much either. Turns out the victim – who travelled with a tourist party – was connected to one Florius Oppicus, a low-life Roman. He absconded to Britannia over a decade ago and took up with the victim, Claudia Deiana, but was ordered back to Rome on suspicion of tax evasion. Possibly, his wife in Rome, who runs a brothel, had something to say to him – if they met.    This is a long story, full of characters and large set-pieces, like a mobster funeral or a raid on a brothel. We spend much time hanging around the vigile stations and tramping the hot, dusty streets of Rome. The Eternal City comes across as busy, tawdry, opulent, impoverished, and in the process of being pulled down and rebuilt. What I feel is lacking is the wry wit of the Falco stories. Flavia Albia is very much her own woman, with a grim and brittle edge. Her earliest story, The Ides Of April, in which she squatted in a derelict tenement in Fountain Court waiting for informer business, is revisited. Then she was a young woman; now she is thirty. She’s not found a sense of humour yet. Flavia still tries to get paid for her work, though it’s not immediately clear who would foot the bill.     DEATH ON THE TIBER carries a clear nod – or two – to Death On The Nile, but fails to produce the characters, rather sticking with the Ancient Roman version of The Godfather. The detail is fascinating and it’s good to keep up with old friends.