The Taint of Midas

Old loyalties, new intrigues and fatal greed in the thrilling new instalment of The Mysteries of the Greek Detective series.... More transported Agatha Christie here, this time to a Greek island setting with modern land-grabbing by unscrupulous developers. This is the second book in Zoroudi's Hermes Diaktoros series, and the subject is greed - the first, The Messenger of Athens, dealt with lust. It's good news for readers that there are five more sins to go, because Diaktoros is a delight. Half Poirot, half deus ex machina, but far more earth-bound than his first name suggests, the portly detective has an other-wordly, Marlowsque incorruptibility as he waddles through the mean olive groves. There is also a cracking plot, colourful local characters and descriptions of the hot, dry countryside so strong that you can almost see the heat haze and hear the cicadas - the perfect read to curl up with' ....