Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: Murder in Mykonos by Jeffrey Siger

 

Murder in Mykonos by Jeffrey Siger (Poisoned Pen Press, 2008) is the first book in the Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis police procedural series. Kaldis has run afoul of his superiors in the homicide department in Athens and is banished to the island of Mykonos to serve as chief of the small police force there. He is trying hard to fly under the radar in what he considers a backwater until he can work his way back to Athens. Mykonos is an international resort with round-the-clock drinking and partying and an affluent tourist trade that provides the backbone of the island’s economy. Not much serious crime there to interest a homicide professional.

 

When a body is discovered in an abandoned church, the town authorities are only concerned about the effect on tourism, until another one turns up and then another. It appears that a serial killer has been operating under their collective noses for years, and blonde female tourists seem to be his target. Kaldis is required by protocol to report the crime to the Central Police Headquarters on another island. Their lead homicide investigator named Tassos and Kaldis team up to identify the killer while fending off the interference of the self-serving local administration. Since the murders display familiarity with the area, they are forced to look at island residents, another reason the mayor is unhappy. Mykonos is home to several eccentrics, some of whom can’t be accounted for during crucial times. Kaldis and Tassos investigate each one, knowing that the killer could be someone else entirely.

 

The island life is vividly depicted, showing the hedonistic present against the spiritual past. Siger lives part-time in Mykonos and his first-hand knowledge of the land and its people shows throughout. The setting is one of the best parts of the book. The two main characters were great, walking a fine line between commitment to their work and the need to appease a local bureaucracy full of nepotism. The culprit isn’t identified until the very end of the book, maintaining a consistent level of suspense. Siger released 10 more books in this popular series after this one with the twelfth due in 2021.\

 

  

·         Hardcover : 288 pages

·         ISBN-10 : 159058581X

·         ISBN-13 : 978-1590585818

·         Publisher : Poisoned Pen Press; First Edition (December 2, 2008)

·         Language:  English

 

 

Aubrey Hamilton ©2020 

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.