American writer Jeffrey Siger's debut novel, MURDER IN MYKONOS, received widespread, critical acclaim as a "brilliant," "can't put down" mystery-thriller, giving "an insider's view of the island paradise of Mykonos," and skyrocketed to rank as the #1 best selling English-language book in Greece!
A young woman on holiday to Mykonos, the most famous of Greece’s Aegean Cycladic islands, simply disappears off the face of the earth. And no one notices. That is, until a body turns up on a pile of bones under the floor of a remote mountain church. Then the island’s new police chief—the young, politically incorrect, former Athens homicide detective Andreas Kaldis—starts finding bodies, bones, and suspects almost everywhere he looks.
Teamed with the canny, nearly-retired local homicide chief, Andreas tries to find the killer before the media can destroy the island’s fabled reputation with a barrage of world-wide attention on a mystery that’s haunted Mykonos undetected for decades. Just when it seems things can’t get any worse, another young woman disappears and political niceties no longer matter. With the investigation now a rescue operation, Andreas finds himself plunging into ancient myths and forgotten island places, racing against a killer intent on claiming a new victim who is herself determined to outstep him.
Sort of a 'Mama Mia' setting for a 'No Country for Old Men' thriller.
Poisoned Pen Press published MURDER IN MYKONOS in the United States in January, 2009.
Aikaterini Lalaouni Editions of Athens simultaneously released Greek- and English-language versions in Greece. It was the first time a foreign work of fiction debuted there in both languages. Goldmann Publishing/Random House will publish MURDER IN MYKONOS in Germany in July 2010 (titled OPFERGABEN) and Piatkus Books/Little Brown will publish the novel in the UK and Commonwealth.
Mykonos, quiet and famous, is the scene of a fast-paced, page-turning murder mystery that will engross you immediately and will keep you glued until the very end – an end that is as mysterious as the story itself. And, I must say, the book is so well written, the end is nothing like you expect it to be.
The plot starts off with a body found on top of a pile of bones in the crypt of a family church on a remote mountain. Suspecting there may be more murders the new police chief undergoes an investigation and finds more bodies, more bones, as well as possible suspects. Teaming with a homicide chief of the Cycladic islands, he attempts to find the serial killer before the media destroys the island’s quiet reputation. In the midst of the investigation another woman disappears and the chaos and intensity escalates. Mix in a mayor that wants to keep everything quiet and the deputy minister that exercises his power and you’ve got a political dilemma.
Grecian myths, picturesque countryside, and a visit to the ancient ruins on Delos captivate the reader in the beauty of Mykonos, despite the ardent holding of breath while reading. Siger is a crafted writer, keeping the attention of the reader to the point of not wanting to put the book down. Each chapter of “Murder in Mykonos” by Jeffrey Siger ends with a hook to continue reading. Need I say more?
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