Hermes Diaktoros – BooksPlease

Description

The olive harvest is drawing to a close in the town of Dendra, and when Hermes Diaktoros arrives for the celebratory festival he expects an indulgent day of food and wine. But as young men leap a blazing bonfire in feats of daring, one of them is badly burned. Did he fall, or was he pushed? Then, as Hermes learns of a deep-running feud between two families, one of their patriarchs dies. Determined to find out why, Hermes follows a bitter trail through the olive groves to reveal a motive for murder, and uncovers a dark deed brought to light by the sin of gluttony.

This is the seventh in Anne Zouroudi’s unique series of award-winning books featuring the enigmatic and courteous investigator Hermes Diaktoros, a man as much a mystery as the cases he solves. Who dispatches him to where he’s needed? And on whose authority does he act?

Hermes’s uncertain origins bring an additional level of bafflement to these much-loved stories. Perfect for fans of well-written crime thrillers and armchair travellers alike, they combine compelling suspense with touching portraits of Greek life far away from the tourist hotspots most visitors to Greece know.

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

This book is the 7th in Anne Zouroudi’s series about Hermes Diaktoros of Athens, the Greek Detective. Each of the books in the series features one of the Seven Deadly Sins – in this one it is the sin of gluttony. It is set in the town of Dendra, where two families of olive growers, the Papayiannis and the Kapsis, are continuing a long standing feud. It begins on the day the town is celebrating the annual feast day, a festival that replaced an ancient feast in honour of the goddess Artemis. But the feast ends in disaster, when a young boy, Dmitris Kapsis is badly burned jumping a bonfire, either through being pushed or by slipping. The Kapsis family immediately blame the Papayiannis.

Hermes is a detective with a difference. Just who he is and who he works for is never explained. He’s most definitely not a policeman and when asked he says he works for the ‘highest Authorities, whose interests lie in justice where there’s been none. I act on their behalf, in the capacity of what you might call an investigator’ (page 161) . He’s described as ‘the fat man‘:

His owlish glasses gave him an air of academia; under his raincoat, his bark-brown suit was subtly sheened, and expertly tailored to flatter his generous stomach. His pale green polo shirt had a crocodile on the chest, and on his feet he wore white shoes, old fashioned canvas shoes of the type once used for tennis; in his hand was a sportsman’s hold-all in black leather, painted in gold with the emblem of the rising sun. (page 14)

Hermes stays in Dendra, investigating what had happened, together with the death of the head of the Papayiannis family, and the deaths of several townspeople from poisoning, allegedly after eating ice cream from the local gelateria. There are many characters to keep in mind, but this is made easier, by the Dramatis Personae at the beginning of the book. And with so much to investigate there are many twists and turns, but Hermes manages to get to the bottom of all the mysteries and along the way we meet his half-brother Dino, an unkempt and dissolute character, with wine-stained teeth and the smell of alcohol seeping through his pores and the flaking skin on his dry lips black from the wine – an interesting version of the god Dionysus.

I did enjoy reading The Feast of Artemis, following Hermes both as he investigates, enjoys all the Greek foods, learns about the impact of technology on the traditional methods of olive oil production, and interacts with the local people. I loved the descriptions of the Greek town and the surrounding countryside. All in all, a most enjoyable book.

We have reached the final letter in Kerrie’s Crime Fiction Alphabet and to illustrate the letter Z I’m focusing on:

The Whispers of Nemesis by Anne Zouroudi. This book is the fifth in Zouroudi’s series about Hermes Diaktoros of Athens, the Greek Detective.

Summary (from Anne Zouroudi’s website):

It is winter in the mountains of northern Greece and as the snow falls in the tiny village of Vrisi a coffin is unearthed and broken open. But to the astonishment of the mourners at the graveside, the remains inside the coffin have been transformed, and as news of the bizarre discovery spreads through the village like forest fire it sets tongues wagging and heads shaking.

Then, in the shadow of the shrine of St Fanourios (patron saint of lost things), a body is found, buried under the fallen snow – a body whose identity only deepens the mystery around the exhumed remains. There’s talk of witchcraft, and the devil’s work – but it seems the truth, behind both the body and the coffin, may be far stranger than the villagers’ wildest imaginings. Hermes Diaktoros, drawn to the mountains by a wish to see an old and dear friend, finds himself embroiled in the mysteries of Vrisi, as well as the enigmatic last will and testament of Greece’s most admired modern poet.

The Whispers of Nemesis is a story of desperate measures and long-kept secrets, of murder and immortality and of pride coming before the steepest of falls.

My view:

Hermes is a detective with a difference. Just who he is and who he works for is never explained. He’s most definitely not a policeman and when asked he says he works for a ‘higher power’ than the police. He is described as ‘the fat man’. He wears a cashmere overcoat of midnight blue, a grey suit with a subtle stripe and a waistcoat, and white tennis shoes. He has owlish glasses and thick curly greying hair. His name is his

… ‘father’s idea of humour. He’s something of a classical scholar. And in the spirit of my namesake, I call these’ – he indicated his white tennis shoes – ‘my winged sandals.’ (page 94)

It is this element of the novels that appeal to me – that and the quirky mysteries. And this book certainly is about a strange mystery about the life and death of the poet Santos Volakis. A local man, he had died some four years earlier choking on an olive stone. In his will he had stipulated that his bequests would only be available when his bones ‘finally see daylight’. So the rite of exhumation, which is customary in rural Greece four years after a death was important to his family and friends, but no one was prepared for the shock that it delivered when the bones were revealed.

I found it a little difficult at first following the sequence of events and identifying who was who, but I soon worked it out. I also had worked out what the mystery was well before the the end, which actually added to my enjoyment of reading the book. The setting is superb, placing you so completely in Greece in winter amongst believably real people.

Each of the books in the Hermes Diaktoros series features one of the Seven Deadly Sins ‘“ in this one it is the sin of pride. Nemesis is the bringer of retribution.

Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury Paperbacks (7 Jun 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1408821915
ISBN-13: 978-1408821916
Source: I bought the book
My Rating: 3.5/5

1. The Messenger of Athens (2007)
2. The Taint of Midas (2008)
3. The Doctor of Thessaly (2009)
4. The Lady of Sorrows (2010)
5. The Whispers of Nemesis (2011)
6. The Bull of Mithros (2012)

Thanks to Kerrie for organising the Crime Fiction Alphabet. I’ve listed the books I’ve read in a page (see Index tab at the top of the blog) and soon I’ll do a summing up post about the highlights.