Dinah Pelerin is due to join an archaeological dig in Turkey but her Norwegian police force boyfriend, Thor, has invited her to join him at a villa that he rented on Greek island of Samos for his sabbatical holiday. They have meals in a local taverna and get to know the locals on this colourful island. Whilst eating a particular evening meal they witness two of the locals in a Greek shouting match outside in the street and later when the couple are going for a post meal stroll before bed, they are horrified to find the murdered body of one of the two, in the street.

Everything seems to go downhill from this point in time and another murder soon occurs and then Thor disappears and his badly smashed car is found in the bottom of a ravine but with no sign of the body, just one of his shoes spattered with blood. What could have occurred? About this time Dinah's troubled and out-of-hand sixteen-year-old niece, K.D., turns up on their vacation villa's doorsteps. It seems she was in trouble with the police back in the USA and Dinah's brother thought he'd ship her to her aunt in Greece for a while to cool off.

It gives Dinah someone to explain what is going on to and the American author has almost all the characters in the multiple cast of this book finding allusions in Greek mythology for almost all of modern troubles. There are frequent references also to the economic problems of modern Greece with the EU. The well-plotted book soon comes to a dramatic conclusion in this fourth outing for Dinah Pelerin.

I was struck by the fact that all of the Greek characters in this book seemed to speak fluent English which rather surprised me, although I've never visited Samos. But that aside the book is very well constructed with a gripping and exciting storyline and I believe there may be more stories set in other European countries in the future to look forward to. Recommended.

Terry Halligan, England
September 2013