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.
RITUAL MURDER IN AN EARTHLY PARADISE: A powerful plot for a mystery novel that keeps your interest until the very end.
One way to know if a mystery novel is good is if you cannot put it down—not even for one minute—until the mystery is solved. On that basis, the work of Jeffrey Siger, titled MURDER IN MYKONOS, is not only good, it is brilliant! The background is Mykonos, the island of summertime love and fun. The writer builds a powerful story—the intensity climbing page by page—without ignoring his characters. Their dignity, intrigues, and politics elevate the mystery to new heights and an unpredictable end with a great, unsuspected surprise. The protagonist of the book is Mykonos, from the first to the last page.
Everything begins when politically incorrect, hotshot detective Andreas Kaldis is promoted out of Athens to serve as police chief for Greece's island paradise of Mykonos, he's certain his homicide days are over. Murders don't happen in tourist heaven; at least that's what he's thinking as he stares at the remains of a young woman found ritually bound and buried on a pile of human bones inside a remote mountain church. Just when it seems things can’t get any worse, bodies, bones, and suspects start turning up almost everywhere he looks—and another victim disappears. With his investigation suddenly a rescue operation, Andreas finds himself plunging into ancient myths and forgotten island places in a race toward a fascinating finale.
Jeffrey Siger began as a lawyer at a major Wall Street law firm. His investigation into a politically charged suicide in one of New York City’s jails resulted in a front page story in The New York Times, and Newsweek magazine called the greatest example of the newest form of unofficial art, the Investigative Report. He abandoned Wall Street to join his own New York City law firm. His beloved Mykonos has been his second country for the last twenty-five years.
[translation]
—EVENING PRESS [ATHENS]
