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stacey_mb

Book of the Week

stacey_mb
9 years ago

The taint of Midas : a novel / Anne Zouroudi.

Reading this entertaining murder mystery is like visiting Greece without the jet lag! The novel immerses the reader in all that is Greek - the landscape, the sea, the hot sun, the food and the people - a part of the book that I really liked. In this way, the events surrounding the crime are uniquely Greek and could not be transplanted elsewhere.

At first I did my usual speed-reading through the book, being impatient for "results," that is, finding out "who done it." This is like the tourists to Greece so disliked by Hermes Diaktoros ("the fat man"), the main character in the book. The tourists rushing in and out of the country are the cause of much over-development and "touristy" changes from traditional Greek life, as observed by Diaktoros. Then I realized that this is the kind of book that is best read at a moderate pace to relish it all, because it's much more than just a murder mystery - it's a way of experiencing Greece.

Review from Library Journal: The old beekeeper didn't deserve to die in a hit-and-run, and his friend Hermes Diaktoros vows to find his killer. Our hero, Hermes (The Messenger of Athens), better known as the fat man, returns in a leisurely paced contemporary steeped in Greek mythology. In this case, a lovely little island is suffering from developers' greed and folks who have zero respect for history. Conducting his investigation surreptitiously, with the help of two sympathetic cops, Hermes upends guilty parties and reestablishes justice. Not content to focus solely on the case at hand, Hermes delves deeper and acts as an informal therapist to several individuals along the way. VERDICT With its wonderful premise for a mystery series, this entry captivates. Hermes is a fastidious philosopher, making this perfect book group material. Highly recommended, particularly for Alexander McCall Smith fans and perhaps the Nero Wolfe set as well.

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