A very fascinating mystery--though the real mystery is the detective rather than the murder (which isn't, strictly speaking, solvable by the reader). While the part of me that loves myths, legends, and history is drawn into the identity of the "fat man" detective of this novel, I must admit to being mildly annoyed by the way that actually lessens what was otherwise a deftly set up murder and cover-up. ( )

Thimios es una pequeña isla griega perdida en las azules aguas del mar Egeo. Durante una bella jornada de primavera, la joven Irini Asimakopoulos es hallada muerta a los pies de un acantilado. A ojos de la policía local, no hay ninguna duda: es un accidente. Caso cerrado. Sin embargo, un desconocido procedente de Atenas se traslada a Thimios para reabrir el caso. A medida que avanzan sus investigaciones, la isla revela su verdadero semblante: los inviernos son eternos y la vida allí es monótona y cruel. Nada es lo que parece. Pero también los habitantes de la isla empiezan a preguntarse quién es ese hombre que parece conocer los más recónditos detalles de todo lo que ha ocurrido en la isla desde hace décadas.

For a book written not that long ago, this is curiously dated. Throughout, the author refers to the investigator as "the fat man". He is Hermes Diaktoros, and he introduces himself as that, so why she feels the need to use this description is beyond me. Hermes has a quirk, he wears a smart suit with a pair of white tennis shoes; they are his winged sandals and he occasionally whips out the whitener to keep them pristine.
The setting is a Greek Island, but I struggled to tell you when it was set. The attitudes on display could be the result of an isolated community, or they could be from a past time. At times the language to refer to some of the people on the island felt to be unnecessary..
Hermes arrives on the island to investigate the death of Irini Asimakopoulos. He soon discovers that the Chief of Police has allowed the body to be buried without post mortem, and has decided that it is an accident and closed the case. Hermes continues to investigate, traveling across the island and talking to various people. Hermes is told an awful lot and it is not terribly clear why anyone does tell him quite so much. Who sent him, where he comes from is always left unresolved.
The book is told in multiple timelines, with chapters based on Hermes investigation and on the back story of the various characters.
It is not always clear what the chronology of these past times are. It doesn't really work. At times there is a lot of telling of back story, sometimes in first, sometimes in third person. The change of narrative style doesn't do this any favours.
I listened to this, and the narrator chose to voice the majority of the islanders in a "local yokel" burr, that made them sound a bit slow and thick compared to the voice used for Hermes. The way that the men are mostly philanderers and the women stoics got rather wearing. The pressure of family shame has dreadful consequences and felt to be very old fashioned.
While t promised much, I can't find a lot to recommend this. ( )

"When Love began to show her ugly face, Irini failed to recognise her, and so allowed her in. In her quiet life, the spark generated by the interested smile of an ordinary man - a man of no consequence - assumed a disproportionate importance, and Love, scenting opportunity, quick as a rat nipped through the open door."

I bought this book with low expectations, assuming it would be a quick read to pass a few days. Initially the main character 'Hermes' struck me as an annoying cross between Poirot and Pavarotti, but he soon grew on me, particularly his skills for reading people and knowing how to extract the required information from them. I'm still confused as to his reasons for arriving at the village and his history, but I guess that is gradually revealed in later books.

I found the descriptions of Greek island life very interesting. I note many readers have claimed this as inaccurate and sexist, yet this is what life for many islanders is truly like. Most of us only see the tourist view, when the sun is shining and the fisherman bring in fresh hauls each day. Most don't grasp the idea of living in a small cut-off community, in poor wintry conditions, where everyone knows your business. The women do raise the kids and slave over meals for the men. The men do view the women as the housemaid and expect them to fulfil their 'wifely duties'. This book does not shy away from that, which I think is refreshing.

I enjoyed Zouroudi's writing style and whilst I'm not desperate to read the rest of the series, I do intend on reading them at some stage. ( )