Mykonos After Midnight

July 1, 2013
The bludgeoning murder of Mykonos nightclub owner Christos Vasilakis at his house on Mykonos kick-starts Siger’s satisfying fifth mystery featuring Chief Insp. Andreas Kaldis (after 2012’s Target: Tinos). Tassos Stamatos, the chief homicide investigator for the Cyclades, brings in Kaldis, the head of Greece’s special crimes division, from Athens to deal with highly compromising material that he discovers in the victim’s safe. Meanwhile, the prime murder suspect, Christos’s girlfriend, Anna, turns up dead in Bialystok, Poland, then Tassos himself goes missing. The investigation that follows—highlighted by political interference and the piecing together of a complicated international plot that threatens to disrupt the easygoing, anything-goes life that Mykonos is famous for—keeps the reader engaged, even as it makes obvious that in Greece it really matters whom you know. The emergence of a shadowy master criminal bodes well for future adventures.

August 15, 2013
On Mykonos, Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis plays a deadly cat-and-mouse game with a volatile crime kingpin. After failing to show up for his morning coffee for several days, nightclub owner Christos Vasilakis is discovered by his Yugoslavian maid bludgeoned to death. Tongues wag about Christos' new girlfriend, Anna, a 20-year-old Ukrainian pole dancer. Formerly an impoverished, rugged paradise, the island has recently been overrun by developers and turned into a playground for the rich and famous, to the disapproval of most locals. The reader learns that Anna is indeed responsible for the crime, along with the dangerous, charismatic criminal Sergey and his henchmen. Anna is deeply, blindly in love with Sergey. Absent any signs of forced entry, investigators Costas and Tassos identify her as the prime suspect, a conclusion they share with their boss, Andreas, head of Greece's Special Crimes Division, while they also offer best wishes on his recent marriage to the lovely Lila. When Sergey kills Anna, the investigation hits a pothole. Far from feeling a need to flee, Sergey sets out immediately to muscle his way into the role of king of the island's nightlife. Teacher, a mysterious female financier with a dark past, has given him carte blanche. She allows him to eclipse her island factotum, a local nicknamed Wacki, who's content to wait for his opportunity. From the easy banter of its three cops to its clutch of unpredictable villains, Kaldis' fifth (Target: Tinos, 2012, etc.) reads more like an Elmore Leonard caper than a whodunit.

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July 1, 2013

Gorgeous Mykonos once again becomes a character when conflicting forces battle for the resort island's future in Siger's fifth series entry (after Target: Tinos). Greece's financial vulnerabilities play a key role as Chief Inspector Kaldis digs in.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2013
A wealthy nightclub owner on the Greek island of Mykonos is murdered. Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis, who's starred in a handful of previous mysteries, doesn't believe robbery is the motive (despite a bedroom safe with its door wide open and its contents missing). But Kaldis doesn't reckon that his investigation will set him against a secretive organization that is determined to seize control of Mykonos itself. Acclaimed (particularly by Greek commentators) for their realistic portrayal of Greek life and culture, the Kaldis novels are very well constructed, and this one is no exception: not only is the mystery solid but the larger story, revolving around the political machinations of the shadowy global organization, is clever and intriguing. Fans of the previous Kaldis novels would do well to seek this one out.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)