Assassins of Athens

Assassins of Athens. Siger, Jeffrey (Author) Jan 2010. 286 p. Poisoned Pen, hardcover, $24.95. (9781590586891). Poisoned Pen, paperback, $14.95. (9781590587072). Siger's Chief Inspector Kaldis returns in his second outing (following Murder in Mykonos, 2009). He is now head of Athens' Special Crimes Division after his politically unfriendly investigative methods got him transferred. When a teenage boy's body is found in a dumpster outside a gay bar in one of Athens' seediest districts, Kaldis hopes it will turn out to be a simple, straightforward case. But this one is far from simple as the investigators soon realize: the body was dumped by the bar several hours after death, and the victim is the son of one of Athens' prominent nouveaux riche families, whose members just happen to be feuding with one of Athens' oldest families. Siger creates a heady mix of Greek politics and culture, drawing on the ancient practice of banishment, the country's student revolutionaries, and its notoriously corrupt officials. Kaldis, assisted by fellow officer Kouris, super-secretary and gossip-fountain Maggie, and socialite and possible love interest Lila, must navigate these turbulent waters to solve the murder and save other victims from the same killer. This is international police procedural writing at its best and should be recommended, in particular, to readers who enjoy Leighton Gage's Brazilian police stories (Buried Strangers, 2009) or Hakan Nesser's Swedish inspector Van Veeteren (Borkmann's Point, 2006).