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.
Paradise or chamber of horrors?
Hundreds of brochures and travel magazines promote the Greek island of Mykonos as a heavenly spot for a getaway. Sparkling in the Aegean Sea, the island presents an intriguing combination of traditional island life in patterns familiar to countless generations of residents as well as a lively hedonistic holiday ambience studded with bars, expensive shops, beaches and a 24 hour party atmosphere. But readers will learn that grisly realities are hidden beneath the surface, in grim contradiction of the tourist brochures. A construction worker stumbles upon a body concealed in the crypt of a semi-abandoned church. The cop called to the scene, Andreas Kaldis, is newly assigned to the area; and smarting with the humiliation of a demotion in his duties. His work in Athens came too close to rousting some powerful people wished to keep undisturbed.
Andreas’ investigation soon uncovers the remains of several other young women, all concealed in crypts of seldom used churches, and all prepared for burial in the same bizarre manner. Other cops from other jurisdictions arrive, increasing Andreas’ sense of probation. Cops and other public officials must walk a fine line between conducting a thorough investigation and keeping a low profile to avoid alarming the many visitors to the island.
In a parallel story, readers follow a young woman who has arrived on her own to visit Mykonos. It’s clear she fits the profile of the taken victim, and indeed she is abducted. Thus begin pages of nail biting suspense as the cops, her family, and her kidnapper race to the conclusion.
Siger’s narrative has parallels to the first Scarpetta novel published by Patricia Cornwell – in that the killer is never a chief character in the narrative. Readers do gain some insight into his twisted motivations as he moves toward the planned murder of the newest abductee, but he remains a shadowy figure.
The closing pages present another twist – one of the investigating officers commits his own surprising act of violence. Did the end justify the means? Readers will be pondering that question as the book ends.
Author Siger is an American attorney who divides his time between Greece and the US. MURDER IN MYKONOS was first published in Greece, to widespread appreciation. This American edition has been re-edited for the English speaking market. The publisher notes that Siger is at work on a sequel, and has plans to take his cop Andreas to many sites within Greece in future entries in the series.
Woodstock
—CRIME SPREE MAGAZINE
