[vintagedave]

I can highly recommend Lindsey Davis' Falco series, murder mysteries set in Ancient Rome. She brings the city to life, it's remarkably vivid, and -- I promise this comment is on topic for this thread! -- Roman apartment living is threaded throughout the series and apartment building construction even forms a major plot point in one book.

I can't say more without spoilers. Excellent for "feeling" what Rome was like.

https://www.goodreads.com/series/42173-marcus-didius-falco

[maksimur]

A similar one, although less a story and more a documentary, is Alberto Angela's A day in the life of ancient Rome. It too, talks about apartments in ancient Rome.

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/6505103-a-day-in-the-...

[Aurornis]

I’m looking for new fiction to add to the queue but my reading time is limited (unless you count children’s books in which case I’m reading 100s of books per year).

Do I need to read the first book in the series, or are they independent? If independent, can you recommend the best one for someone who only has time to read one?

[Tangurena2]

The earlier stories are mostly independent (the last few in the series build on previous stories). I would recommend starting with the first book, The Silver Pigs because there is a romance that starts and continues. The central character is what today we would call a "private eye".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Silver_Pigs

[vintagedave]

It's been several years since I read them, but I think starting with the first book is good. It's not quite as polished as the others, and I think not quite with the same tone, but it introduces the characters that will be throughout the series. My memory is the series is more lighthearted in general than the first book is.

You make me think I should reread, and I will start at the beginning here too.

[izend]

Another amazing series is the Master of Rome series starting with the First Man of Rome book:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_Man_in_Rome

[GolfPopper]

There's a follow-up series with Falco's adopted daughter Flavia Albia that I found equally good. (And the details of her apartment lifestyle are a major plot point in at least one of them)

[satvikpendem]

I mentioned this in another comment but The Forgotten City is a game with a similar setting, it's an ancient Rome first person mystery RPG where the player is supposed to figure out what happened.

[jimbokun]

Wow she's certainly prolific!