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The Messenger of Athens (The Greek Detective #1)
by
Anne Zouroudi (Goodreads Author)
Idyllic but remote, the Greek island of Thiminos seems untouched by the modern world. So when the battered body of a young woman is discovered at the foot of a cliff, the local police--governed more by archaic rules of honor than by the law--are quick to close the case, dismissing her death as an accident. Then a stranger arrives, uninvited, from Athens, announcing his int...more
Paperback
Published
June 1st 2011
by Bloomsbury UK
(first published January 1st 2007)
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Apr 07, 2012
Ashland Mystery Oregon
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
mystery-greece
My second Hermes Diakoros mystery, and the first in Anne Zouroudi's excellent series set in the islands of Greece. This one on the island of Thiminos.
The contrasts and imagery of Zouroudi's writing are delightful, with fine pacing and staging. Here's from the prologue:
The contrasts and imagery of Zouroudi's writing are delightful, with fine pacing and staging. Here's from the prologue:
"It was the spring of the year; the air was light and bright, the alpines were in bloom. It was a fine day to be out....more
She had been out there for two days.
They had found her, at last, but they were not treating her with reverence,
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Irini Asimakopoulos’s body has been found at the bottom of a cliff. She has been dead for two days. The local police of chief chalks Irini’s death up to a suicide.
Hermes Diaktoros has been displaced from the city of Athens to investigative the murder of Irini. When Hermes arrives he finds he is not welcome. The police think Hermes will come to the same conclusion as they did…suicide. Hermes can feel that Irini’s death was not a suicide but a murder. He aims to uncover the truth. No matter what...more
Hermes Diaktoros has been displaced from the city of Athens to investigative the murder of Irini. When Hermes arrives he finds he is not welcome. The police think Hermes will come to the same conclusion as they did…suicide. Hermes can feel that Irini’s death was not a suicide but a murder. He aims to uncover the truth. No matter what...more
Hermes Diaktoros is an unusual detective. He has no personal demons plaguing him. No acrimonious relationship with his ex-wife. No crack addicted daughter. He has one strange obsession - keeping his tennis shoes white.
He is also something of a mystery. When he shows up to investigate the death of a local fisherman's wife, no one is sure who hired him and why. It seems quite clear to the local police that it was a suicide. Hermes is, or course, not so certain.
Much of the book is spent examining...more
He is also something of a mystery. When he shows up to investigate the death of a local fisherman's wife, no one is sure who hired him and why. It seems quite clear to the local police that it was a suicide. Hermes is, or course, not so certain.
Much of the book is spent examining...more
This is a Greek Isle without the familiar sun drenched heat or pristine whitewashed houses perched precariously and photogenically on steep hillsides. A cruise ship does not pull in every other day with tourists snapping cameras and clambering up ruins. This is the hard scrabble insulated island more like, say, the home of Zorba. Furthermore, it is wintertime, and a fisherman husband's absence could "rub salt into his wife's loneliness." Everyone knows everyone else and everything about them, an...more
The Messenger of Athens proved to be what I call a watching book. The kind of book that allows me to sit back and observe a whole different world.
It is a world that is beautifully drawn, with many – almost too many – wonderfully evocative descriptive passages. I was transported.
To a small, remote Greek island, where a woman’s body has washed up on the shore. She was a local woman, and it is said that she must have jumped or fallen from the cliffs. Her body is returned to her family and she is bu...more
It is a world that is beautifully drawn, with many – almost too many – wonderfully evocative descriptive passages. I was transported.
To a small, remote Greek island, where a woman’s body has washed up on the shore. She was a local woman, and it is said that she must have jumped or fallen from the cliffs. Her body is returned to her family and she is bu...more
I shared this novel with one of my daughters and was looking for an opposing view point. Did she enjoy this more than I, and if so why? Was this strictly Chicklit or could someone other than a girly man enjoy it? I was surprised by both how much I enjoyed it and the skill of the novelist.
I have not had the opportunity to travel to Greece but Anne Zouroudi makes it very appealing. Her descriptive ability adds a nice element to the novel. It doesn’t overshadow the plot and does not read like a tra...more
1 like · like · see review
The publisher sent me four books in The Greek Detective series after I expressed an interest in this mystery series, set in Greece. I’m not a huge fan of crime and mystery unless there’s a dash of romance, humour or the setting is an exotic location. The latter is what sparked my interest in this one.
A stranger arrives on the Greek island of Thiminos in the wake of the death of Irini Asimakopoulos. The Chief of Police has deemed it a clear-cut suicide but there’s the absence of an autopsy or inv...more
A stranger arrives on the Greek island of Thiminos in the wake of the death of Irini Asimakopoulos. The Chief of Police has deemed it a clear-cut suicide but there’s the absence of an autopsy or inv...more
Set on the fictional Greek island of Thiminos, after just thirty pages this present-day murder mystery involving an illicit love affair becomes quietly compelling, probably because Zouroudi’s attention to the detail of the landscape is what gives this book its delicate atmosphere. Then there are the people, with their everyday Greek tragedies in which superstition and gender roles are entrenched and emotionally suffocating. Zouroudi’s characterisation is also good, particularly in the clear depi...more
May 03, 2011
Beth
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
bookcrossing,
fiction-general
I really wanted to like this book -- but I didn't. In fact, the only thing I did like about it was that it was set in Greece -- but even that didn't lend much to the story, as the island seemed to be a rather homely and boring place (not evoking the magic and beauty that I've personally experienced on Greek islands). The story was way too choppy, and there were far too many things left unanswered for my own tastes. I still have no idea who Hermes really is, or why he went to the island to invest...more
One book can not be all things to all people, but Anne Zouroudi seems to have that goal in mind.
Readers are led to expect a "typical" mystery with a description of the protagonist as "half Poirot, half Deus ex machina."
What you get is more travelogue and psychoanalysis.
There is a body, there is a mystery, but frankly the mystery could have been solved in a short story. As it stands, the story drags. If I had not been reading this for a book group, I would have flipped to the end n to find out "w...more
Readers are led to expect a "typical" mystery with a description of the protagonist as "half Poirot, half Deus ex machina."
What you get is more travelogue and psychoanalysis.
There is a body, there is a mystery, but frankly the mystery could have been solved in a short story. As it stands, the story drags. If I had not been reading this for a book group, I would have flipped to the end n to find out "w...more
The Messenger of Athens is the first in Zouroudi’s series featuring the enigmatic Hermes Diaktoros. The body of Irini Asimakopoulos is found at the bottom of a cliff, and the local police quickly rule it accidental as a favor to her distraught husband. The Chief of Police assumes Irini committed suicide. Enter the Greek Detective. Diaktoros is determined to find out who is responsible for Irini’s death. The weeks leading up to her death are slowly unraveled through flashbacks, while Diaktoros me...more
The Messenger of Athens is a book we have had lying around the house for quite a few years and that my brother had read it and hadn't enjoyed it. I would like to clarify that I did not start reading this book expecting it to be bad, nor was I in any way influenced by my brother's opinions on it.
So, now that's clear, I have to day I did not enjoy this book. But it was not a bad book, per se. I remember that we bought this book because it sounded quite interesting and something we could relate to,...more
So, now that's clear, I have to day I did not enjoy this book. But it was not a bad book, per se. I remember that we bought this book because it sounded quite interesting and something we could relate to,...more
“The Messenger of Athens” introduces us to Hermes Diaktoros, a fat man who is remarkably light on his feet, and carries a satchel with the most interesting contents. He arrives in the island of Thiminos to help in the investigation of the death of Irini Asimakopoulos. But who is he? And why has he really come? Bit by bit, the story is unpeeled –well, a bit graphically at times – sometimes in the first person, sometimes in the third, with little nudges and hints to draw the reader deeper into the...more
The greek island of Thiminos is idyllic but remote. It seems untouched and untroubled by the modern world. So when a battered body of a young women is discovered at the foot of a cliff. The local police governed by arhaic rules are quick to close the case. Dismissing it as an accident. But when an uninvited stranger arrives from Athen,s announcing he is going to investigate the crime that he believes has been committed. Hermes Diaktoros sets out to uncover the truths that skulk beneath this smal...more
I enjoyed this book, but I'm not sure I would classify it as a mystery (the publisher and the reviews of it do). The book begins with a dead body and by the end we know who it was and how she died. There isn't a detective, per se. There is 'the fat man' who seems to know things for no reason that the reader is told and takes actions as if he is one of the Gods to whom he occasionally refers to set things right (as he sees 'right' anyway).
The stories told about the various people on this little...more
The stories told about the various people on this little...more
In the beginning, there is a bit of action that succinctly views the cruelty of mankind. During this scene, I felt a good deal of compassion for the woman involved, but I regret to say that this was probably the last thing I truly enjoyed about the book. The main aspect of the story that disappointed me was that it left me with more questions than answers. This was especially true about the fat man -- He was fairly intriguing, but I never learned as much about him as I would have liked. Overall,...more
Hermes Diaktoros (aka "the fat man") arrives on the remote Greek island of Thiminos to investigate the death of Irini Asimakopoulos, which the local police have ruled a suicide. The setting, a bleak island with stifling social mores and antiquated treatment of women was not at all reminiscent of the Greek islands I've visited. The mysterious and eccentric main character, who has been compared by other reviewers of this book to the great Poirot, is sadly not as good or interesting. The writing, t...more
The Messenger of Athens is a reasonably engaging Private Detective Murder Mystery set on a bucolic Greek Island. The twist is that the action takes place among the locals during the chilly and dismal off-season and gives the reader a glance into the other side of paradise. The hero of the story is "The Fat Man" a mysterious PI from Athens who enters the insular world of the full-time islanders, shakes things up and sorts things out.
The Messenger of Athens held my attention and gets an extra poin...more
The Messenger of Athens held my attention and gets an extra poin...more
First I put 3*, would have liked to have put 3.5, but now changed it to 4 looking at my other 3 or 4 star ratings. It had intrigue, strong characterisation, good plot, a few twists, a sort of unexpected revealing final bit. I wanted to read on each night to the next chapter. The only negative thing is that I found the descriptions of the misogynist Greek culture depressing and upsetting, especially the violence. But that's hardly the author's fault as she's presumably portraying reality! Sort of...more
The man from Athens--Hermes Diaktoros--arrives at the remote island of Thiminos and declares he's going to investigate the death of Irini Asimakopoulos, a young woman from the mainland who married a local fisherman and apparently fell to her death. The local police certainly hadn't investigated the incident, but had written it off as an accident, although they suspected it was suicide. Diaktoros, however, is willing to look into all the relationships of Irini's life, including her fruitless pass...more
(Audiobook, read by Sean Barrett)
I bought this book with some trepidation. It appeared to combine two things I love - crime writing and the Greek islands. Seemed such a strange combination, I didn't really know what to expect. But I was impressed. The author's descriptions and story-telling were evocative, entertaining, and slightly mysterious. The story, whilst a little slow in parts for die-hard crime pot-boiler lovers, was a complex mesh of perspectives from the protagonists. Like the layers...more
I bought this book with some trepidation. It appeared to combine two things I love - crime writing and the Greek islands. Seemed such a strange combination, I didn't really know what to expect. But I was impressed. The author's descriptions and story-telling were evocative, entertaining, and slightly mysterious. The story, whilst a little slow in parts for die-hard crime pot-boiler lovers, was a complex mesh of perspectives from the protagonists. Like the layers...more
I read relatively few crime/mystery novels, therefore I cannot judge whether this is a well-written book for its genre, or whether the author is unique or innovative.
What I can say is that I enjoy Zouroudi's writing style, her controlled pacing, the carefully selected phrasing, with not a word too rich or too spare. There is something almost anachronistic about the diction, as if the novel was written during a bygone era. A word here or a particular turn of phrase there harks back to the aesthet...more
What I can say is that I enjoy Zouroudi's writing style, her controlled pacing, the carefully selected phrasing, with not a word too rich or too spare. There is something almost anachronistic about the diction, as if the novel was written during a bygone era. A word here or a particular turn of phrase there harks back to the aesthet...more
As an aficionado of foreign-set mysteries, and 1/4 Greek, I couldn't pass up this first book in the "Mysteries of the Greek Detective" series (since followed by The Taint of Midas, The Doctor of Thessaly, and The Lady of Sorrows). It takes place on the fictional Greek island of Thiminos, a small, unprepossessing island that lies dormant most of the year, until the tourists show up for the summer. And did I mention how bleak it is? Damp pervades the houses, the social mores are stifling, and life...more
Won through the GoodReads First Reads giveaway program.
I'm still not entirely sure what to think about Greek detective Hermes Diaktoros. He isn't the detective I expected, necessarily -- he's a Greek Poirot, a mystery in a mystery. But I'm not sure what his impetuses are. I don't know why he came to the island of Thiminos to investigate the death of Irini Asimakopoulos. I don't know whether he solved the mystery and meted out justice right and proper, like a deus ex machina, or created the solut...more
I'm still not entirely sure what to think about Greek detective Hermes Diaktoros. He isn't the detective I expected, necessarily -- he's a Greek Poirot, a mystery in a mystery. But I'm not sure what his impetuses are. I don't know why he came to the island of Thiminos to investigate the death of Irini Asimakopoulos. I don't know whether he solved the mystery and meted out justice right and proper, like a deus ex machina, or created the solut...more
Apr 12, 2010
drey
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2010-reads,
mystery-suspense-and-thriller
When I was twelve, I started reading Agatha Christie. I loved her books so much I think I managed to get my hands on every single one of 'em. Every. Single. One. Why am I talking about Agatha Christie? Because she created Hercule Poirot, of course. And Anne Zouroudi's detective in The Messenger of Athens, Hermes Diaktoros, reminds me of Hercule Poirot.
Arriving on the Greek island of Thiminos to investigate the death of the young wife of a local fisherman, Hermes brings his peculiarities along wi...more
Arriving on the Greek island of Thiminos to investigate the death of the young wife of a local fisherman, Hermes brings his peculiarities along wi...more
While the people on the small Greek island of Thiminos are quick to dismiss the death of a young woman as an accident, the stranger from Athens who shows up seems intent on getting to the bottom of the matter. He uncovers layers of actions that involve almost all of the people who knew her, and like Nemesis, he sets appropriate punishments.
It took me a little while to get into this book, but I did enjoy it. I found myself comparing Hermes Diaktoros to Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot.
It took me a little while to get into this book, but I did enjoy it. I found myself comparing Hermes Diaktoros to Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot.
This was an extremely atmospheric murder mystery. Anne Zouroudi depicted a close knit community with opressive roles for women and men very well. As the story progressed she developed quite a few sub plots which all fed into her main stroy or helped develop the reader's understanding of the community. I thought her development of individual characters was not so good however which was a bit disappointing. Overall it was a complex satisfying read.
Feb 21, 2012
Mary Stevens
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
crime,
pton-mystery-book-club
Greek PI, employer unknown, explores the complex events and relationships on an island. Dispenses healings and consequences for all so that everybody gets their just desserts. I could feel the winter wind, smell the surf and see every crooked path. I could hear the characters voices and understand how they felt. But I would never want to be on that island or know those people. Also I will never feel quite comfortable opening a match box again.
This was an intriguing book. I think it's the first in a series. Hermes Diaktoros (Hermes Messenger - his father's little joke) appears to investigate the death of a woman who seems to have fallen or jumped over a cliff on a tiny island off the mainland of Greece. This islanders assume he comes from Athens, from the police department. They discover this is not so and they decide he must be a private inquiry agent hired by the woman's family. It seems he knows an awful lot about the people living...more
Enjoyed the atmosphere of the small Greek island. In the early '70s and into the late '80s I visited several small and remote islands. The descriptions brought the whole gesalt of the places immediately to mind. I could smell the ouzo (not my favorite drink) and the oregano, picture the gardens and the quays.
Overall, I really got into the mysteries of the place, but like some other reviewers, I feel the unanswered questions, like why was Hermes there investigating and where was Irini's mother w...more
Overall, I really got into the mysteries of the place, but like some other reviewers, I feel the unanswered questions, like why was Hermes there investigating and where was Irini's mother w...more
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Born in rural Lincolnshire in 1959, Anne moved to South Yorkshire at the age of two. Following her education at Sheffield High School for Girls, she went into the IT industry, a career which took her to both New York’s Wall Street and Denver, Colorado. In America she began to take seriously her ambition to write fiction, and bought a typewriter for her first short stories.
On returning to the UK, s...more
More about Anne Zouroudi...
On returning to the UK, s...more
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