The Taint of Midas

May 16, 2011
In Zouroudi's lyrical second Seven Deadly Sins mystery (after 2010's The Messenger of Athens), cheap bungalows for foreigners are replacing olive groves on the island of Arcadia, much to the dismay of self-styled detective Hermes Diaktoros (aka "the fat man"). Soon after one of Hermes's oldest friends, elderly Gabrilis Kaloyeros, is tricked into signing over his land to developers, the detective finds Gabrilis's dead body on the side of a road, the victim of a hit-and-run. Like his mythological namesake, Hermes brings messages from the gods, as it were, and has an "arsenal of weapons at his disposal" that aren't available to the police, who at first suspect him of killing Gabrilis. Thus armed, the portly Hermes goes around Arcadia as a moral force, offering advice to all and sundry. In the end, a deus ex machina more than sleuthing resolves the crime in this lovely paean to the Greek islands. 

Gildart Jackson narrates much of this audiobook with the ponderous profundity of a minor god who deigns to enlighten a disbelieving audience. This is especially true of his portrayal of the protagonist, "the Fat Man." As for the other and varied characters, Jackson enlivens the proceedings with distinctive portrayals. The setting is a Greek island upon which sits the Temple of Apollo; Jackson manages to make this exotic setting a character in itself. As for the plot, someone has run the Fat Man's elderly beekeeping friend off the road. There will be vengeance. Zouroudi is a British author who married into a Greek family, so the authenticity of the setting is impeccable. D.R.W. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine