A Darker God

January 11, 2010
Set in 1928, Cleverly’s third Laetitia Talbot mystery (after 2008’s Bright Hair About the Bone
) offers a cleverer puzzle than its predecessors, but fails to measure up to her Joe Sandilands historical series (Folly du Jour
, etc.). In Athens, the stabbed body of Sir Andrew Merriman turns up during a rehearsal of an English production of Aeschylus’ Agamemnon
. Merriman, a classics scholar, was about to finish writing a biography of Alexander the Great that would answer two burning questions about the conqueror—the identity of his murderer and the location of his tomb. Fortuitously, Det. Chief Insp. Percy Montacute of Scotland Yard, who recently has been “econded to Athens” as a CID officer, is a member of the play’s cast. Aided by archeologist Talbot, Montacute investigates. Talbot, who had an affair with Merriman, is a less memorable lead than such other female sleuths of the same period as Maisie Dobbs and Phryne Fisher.

December 1, 2009
Marital and political discord in 1928 Athens.

Plucky Laetitia Talbot (Bright Hair About the Bone, 2008, etc.) and formidable Lady Maud Merriman are sitting together in an Athenian amphitheatre watching a dress rehearsal of Agamemnon directed by Lady Maud's husband and Letty's ex-lover, scholarly archeologist Sir Andrew. The rehearsal is ruined when Sir Andrew winds up in the bathtub instead of the cloth dummy meant to receive Agamemnon's fatal wound to the heart. Whodunit falls to Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Percy Montacute, now seconded to Athens, and local security chief General Konstantinou. Percy immediately decides that Letty's perfectly suited to be his second-in-command, and she obliges, somewhat to the chagrin of her lover, cleric William Gunning. Maud's cousin Thetis, who played Clytemnestra and also happens to be another one of Sir Andrew's lovers, is jailed on murder charges, then released in time to argue with the new widow before Maud takes a fatal header from a second-floor balcony. Letty, named prominently in Sir Andrew's will, becomes a suspect. She's shot at, then abducted, then forced to bargain for her life with a Macedonian bent on a vengeance to be taken at the rescheduled opening performance of Agamemnon to be attended by Prime Minister Venizelos and his wife. There'll be more death along with a smattering of romance between Thetis and Percy before the final curtain rings down.

Archeological treasures, a reenactment of a classical Greek tragedy and Balkan politics vie rather unevenly for prominence in this heavy-handed third outing for Letty.

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January 15, 2010
As a British theater company performs Aeschylus's famous play "Agamemnon" in an ancient amphitheater in Athens, a noted scholar is found murdered in the tub destined to be the scene of the Greek hero's final hour. It is 1928, and archaeologist Laetitia Talbot ("Bright Hair About the Bone") is on hand to help in the production and later in the investigation. VERDICT In her fourth series title, Cleverly constructs a complex puzzle worthy of Agatha Christie. While her Joe Sandilands series was a beautiful effort, Cleverly has found her voice in Laetitia Talbot, and fans of Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs and Kerry Greenwood's Phrynne Fisher will want to meet her. [See Prepub Mystery, "LJ" 11/1/09; ebook: ISBN 978-0-440-33905-2.]

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2010
PostWorld War I politics and ancient mysteries mix well together in this third in Cleverlys series starring Laetitia Letty Talbot (following Bright Hair About the Bone, 2008). Its 1928, and British archaeologist and amateur sleuth Letty has recently returned to Athens from a dig in Crete when her friend, mentor, and former lover Andrew Merriman is murdered, his stabbed body found during a rehearsal of Agamennon, which he translated from Aeschylus. The next day his sharp-tongued wife, Maud, who knew of her husbands dalliances, also dies, presumably pushed from her homes second-floor window, casting suspicion on actress Thetis Templeton, Mauds visiting cousin and Andrews current lover. DCI Percy Montacute from Scotland Yard, an amateur actor newly posted to Athens, is present when Andrews body is discovered and heads the investigation, aided by Letty. In addition to bringing deductive reasoning to the case, Letty becomes an endangered player in a long-planned plot for revenge by a victim of the 1923 Greece and Turkey population exchange. A complex, well-plotted historical mystery enlivened by its feisty and more-than-modern protagonist.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)