The Taint of Midas: Mystery meets mythology in the timeless landscapes of modern Greece (Mysteries of the Greek Detective Book 2)

The Taint of Midas is the second in Anne Zouroudi’s unique series of award-winning Greek Detetctive mysteries, where mythology meets murder in the timeless landscapes of almost-contemporary Greece.

The tales of the Greek Detective are ‘Gripping and tense, with an atmosphere which holds you in thrall’, says Susan Hill.
‘Essentially gloriously sunny escapism, the perfect holiday read’ (Daily Telegraph).

Readers of Andrea Camilleri, Donna Leon, Alexander McCall-Smith and Neil Gaiman's American Gods will love the mysterious, enigmatic Greek detective Hermes Diaktoros, ‘half Poirot, half deus ex machina’ (Guardian).


For over half a century the beautiful Temple of Apollo has been in the care of the old beekeeper Gabrilis. But when the value of the land soars he is forced to sign away his interests - and hours later he meets a violent, lonely death. When Hermes Diaktoros finds his friend's battered body by a dusty roadside, the police quickly make him the prime suspect. But with rapacious developers threatening Arcadia's most ancient sites, there are many who stand to gain from Gabrilis's death. Our investigator resolves to avenge his old friend and find the true culprit, but his methods are, as ever, unorthodox ...

Anne Zouroudi is a past winner of the Coventry Book Award and has been shortlisted for the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards and the Desmond Elliott Prize.

Reviews

Anne Zouroudi’s Greek mystery is full of ‘all the sparkle and light of the island landscapes in which she sets them . . . Lovely, delicious prose and plot – as tasty as one of those irresistible honey-soaked Greek confections’ - Alexander McCall Smith

‘Gripping and tense with an atmosphere which holds you in thrall’ - Susan Hill

‘Firmly in the delicious subgenre of crime-cum-gastroporn pioneered by Andrea Camilleri . . . Essentially gloriously sunny escapism, the perfect holiday read’ - Daily Telegraph

‘Riveting’ - Wall Street Journal

‘This powerfully atmospheric mystery embraces Mediterranean passion, mythic meddling and patriarchal persecution. Anne Zouroudi proves a natural at the dark arts of writing Euro-crime’ - Independent

‘Not only charming and engrossing stories, but also shrewd and often bleak portraits of individual weakness and social fragility . . . rich in wonderfully compressed scenes, any one of which might have become a short story. But this is a mystery novel, and Zouroudi creates suspense as elegantly as she does atmosphere’ - Washington Post

‘I can’t get enough of Anne Zouroudi’s dapper and enigmatic Greek detective Hermes Diaktoros’ - The Australian

‘Diaktoros is a delight. Half Poirot, half deus ex machina, but far more earth-bound than his first name suggests, the portly detective has an otherworldly, Marlowesque incorruptibility. There is also a cracking plot, colourful local characters and descriptions of the hot, dry countryside so strong that you can almost see the heat haze and hear the cicadas – the perfect read to curl up with’ - Guardian

‘Anne Zouroudi writes about the nitty-gritty underbelly of life on the Greek islands but with much pathos and passion. Each one is a delicious delight to be savoured at your leisure’ - Top Ten Best Novels about Greece, Away with the Ferries

‘Greece so charmingly portrayed in Anne Zouroudi's novels’ - The Times