The Doctor of Thessaly

October 29, 2012
Sophisticated classic mystery fans will welcome Zoroudi’s third Deadly Sins mystery (after 2011’s The Whispers of Nemesis). Her Poirot-like sleuth, Hermes Diaktoros, whose exact employers remain obscure, arrives in the small Greek village of Morfi at a delicate time. Town doctor Louis Chabrol, a Frenchman, has stood up his bride-to-be, Chrissa Kaligi, but an innocent if horrific explanation is soon forthcoming. Someone has thrown a caustic chemical into Chabrol’s face after luring him to a remote spot, blinding him. Diaktoros, an easy-going gourmand who’s very particular about his appearance, subtly insinuates himself into the village’s life in an effort to identify Chabrol’s assailant. Apart from her empathic lead, Zoroudi’s evocative prose is a plus (“When the wind blew, the corrugated iron roof—lashed down with rope and weighted with rocks—sang like the haunting dead, rattling its own percussion”).

November 15, 2012
No one on the Greek island of Arcadia can keep a secret from the comforting and apparently harmless investigator known as the fat man. Strange and seemingly unrelated events plague the little village of Morfi. Bride Noula angrily casts her wedding garlands into the sea when her groom is a no-show. Hard-drinking Adonis Anapodos discovers a doctor in a local churchyard, beaten and blinded and left for dead. The victim speaks fluent Greek but with a decidedly French accent. Evangelia, a chatty and self-involved trattoria owner, is regaling an alert and mysterious "fat man" with the sad story of the aborted wedding when Adonis carries the injured doctor in and the emergency service is called. Bringing his Mercedes in for repairs, the fat man, grandly introducing himself as Hermes Diaktoros of Athens, stirs the pot with visits to the post office (a hub of local power) and Adonis' home to question him more closely about his rescue of the unnamed doctor. At length, we learn that the victim's name is Louis and he is the fiance of Chrissa, the sister of the jilted bride, Noula. News of the fat man's presence spreads, but still the locals readily open up to him, helping him move steadily to a solution. A plus-sized Poirot with a more puckish personality, Hermes (The Taint of Midas, 2011, etc.) may be a bit twee for conventional whodunit fans. But his droll interactions with hapless locals, along with Zouroudi's intricately detailed depictions of small-town dynamics, should hold readers' interest.

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December 1, 2012
In Zouroudi's third Hermes Diaktoros novel (following The Taint of Midas, 2011), the Athenian investigator's employers and origins remain undeclared, but Diaktoros still commands authority, somehow beyond the state. Waylaid by car trouble in the coastal village of Morfi, Diaktoros is present when the village's doctor is rushed into town, rescued from a vicious, blinding attack with chemicals. Although the blinding will surely end his career and may threaten his relationship with a local spinster, the doctor declines to alert authorities, and the village quickly loses interest. Diaktoros' interest is piqued, however, and he employs time-honored techniquesinquisition and observationto dig for amotive beneath village rumors. As always, these methods provide the most honest glimpses of human nature, and his guided tour through the villagers' envy, lost loves, and hard-edged justice is as enlightening as it is entertaining. Zouroudi's straightforward style wisely allows room for the characters' relationships to provide the story's complexity. Recommended for those who would enjoy Alexander McCall Smith darkened a shade or two.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)