The Whispers of Nemesis (36 page)

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Authors: Anne Zouroudi

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‘Myles Antonakos, born in Kerkyra,' he said. ‘His name is there, now, as it should be. His resting place is marked.'

‘You never solved our mystery, then, did you?' asked the sexton, speaking with his pipe still in his mouth. ‘You never tracked down our poet. Where the devil he got to, we shall never know, shall we?'

‘You may never know, no,' said the fat man. A lemon-winged butterfly fluttered around the posy in his hands: roses and gerberas, bound with a ribbon. ‘Incidentally, I saw as I passed through the village that you have swans again, at the spring.'

‘Only one,' said the sexton. ‘A cob, without a mate, only recently arrived. He's lonely by himself, no doubt. He ought to find himself a female.'

‘Maybe he will, in time,' said the fat man. ‘Did you know that swans are supposed to carry the souls of great poets, when they die?'

‘I didn't know that, no,' said the sexton. ‘Are you done here? Aren't you leaving your flowers?'

‘My flowers are not for him,' said the fat man, ‘they're for Roula, if you'll show me where she lies.'

‘Old Roula,' said the sexton, with some surprise. ‘You knew her, did you? They say she was a great beauty, in her prime. Time's a cruel master, wouldn't you say? Come on, and I'll show you to her grave.'

Glossary

 

 

Kali mera (sas)
:
Good morning, good day (
sas
– polite/plural form)

Kali spera (sas)
:
Good evening

Yassou (Yassas)
:
Hello or Goodbye (lit: ‘Your health')

Chairo poli
:
Formal greeting

Kalos tou
:
Informal greeting

Kalo risiko
:
Congratulations offered on a new purchase or acquisition

Panayia mou
:
By the Virgin

Kamari mou
:
My son (lit: my pride)

Agori mou
:
My boy

Pedi mou
:
My child

Kori mou
:
My daughter

Agapi mou
:
My love

Glika mou
:
My sweet

Mori, kalé
:
Familiar terms of address

Oriste?
:
May I help you?

Embros?
:
Polite greeting when answering a telephone

Amessos
:
Right away, immediately

Kyrie
:
Sir, Mr

Kyria
:
Madam, Mrs

Despina
:
Miss

Pappou
:
Grandpa

Thea
:
Aunt

Poustis
:
Homosexual (slang)

Malaka
:
Term of abuse

Kafebriko
:
Small, long-handled pot for brewing coffee

Stifado
:
Meat stewed with onions

Mezedes
:
Appetisers, a variety of small dishes

Dramatis Personae

 

 

Hermes Diaktoros: an investigator

Santos Volakis: a poet

Leda: the poet's daughter

Frona Kalaki: the poet's sister

Maria: the poet's housekeeper

Roula: Maria's mother

Attis Danas: the poet's literary agent

Yorgas Sarris: a publisher, owner of Bellerophon Editions

Papa Tomas: a priest

Katerina: a widow

Myles Antonakos: an alcoholic

Eustis: a café proprietor

Hassan: a taxi driver

Nufris: a crewman on the ferry
Poseidon

A Note on the Author

ANNE ZOUROUDI
was born in England and lived for some years in the Greek islands. Her attachment to Greece remains strong, and the country is the inspiration for much of her writing. She now lives in the Derbyshire Peak District with her son.

By the Same Author

THE MESSENGER OF ATHENS

Shortlisted for the ITV 3 Crime Thriller Awards

When the battered body of a young woman is discovered on a remote Greek island, the local police are quick to dismiss her death as an accident. Then a stranger arrives, uninvited, from Athens, announcing his intention to investigate further. His name is Hermes Diaktoros, his methods are unorthodox, and he brings his own mystery into the web of dark secrets and lies. Who has sent him, on whose authority is he acting, and how does he know of dramas played out decades ago?

*

‘Powerfully atmospheric … Zouroudi proves a natural at the dark arts of writing Euro-crime'
INDEPENDENT

THE TAINT OF MIDAS

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. Hermes resolves to avenge his old friend and find the true culprit, but his investigative methods are, as ever, unorthodox …

*

‘More transported Agatha Christie here ... Hermes is a delight. Half Poirot, half deus ex machina, but far more earth-bound than his first name suggests ... 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

THE DOCTOR OF THESSALY

A jilted bride weeps on an empty beach, a local doctor is attacked in an isolated churchyard – trouble has come at a bad time to Morfi, just as the backwater village is making headlines with a visit from a government minister. Fortunately, where there's trouble there's Hermes Diaktoros, the mysterious fat man whose tennis shoes are always pristine and whose methods are always unorthodox. Hermes must solve a brutal crime, thwart the petty machinations of the town's ex-mayor and pour oil on the troubled waters of a sisters' relationship – but how can he solve a mystery that not even the victim wants to be solved?

*

‘If you don't find yourself in Greece this summer, then Zouroudi's latest mystery brings the Hellenic vibe tantalisingly close … Once again Hermes Diaktoros – a reassuringly earthbound investigator – finds himself dealing with a chorus of colourful locals'
INDEPENDENT

THE LADY OF SORROWS

A painter is found dead at sea off the coast of a remote Greek island. For our enigmatic detective Hermes Diaktoros, the plot can only thicken: the painter's work, an icon of the Virgin long famed for its miraculous powers, has just been uncovered as a fake. But has the painter died of natural causes or by a wrathful hand? What secret is a dishonest gypsy keeping? And what haunts the ancient catacombs beneath the bishop's house?

*

‘Anne Zouroudi writes beautifully – her books have all the sparkle and light of the island landscapes in which she sets them.
The Lady of Sorrows
, her latest, is a gorgeous treat'
ALEXANDER MCCALL SMITH

THE BULL OF MITHROS

It is summer, and as tourists, drawn by the legend of a priceless missing artifact, disembark on the sun-drenched quay of Mithros, the languid calm of the island is broken by the unorthodox arrival of a stranger who has been thrown overboard in the bay. Lacking money or identification, he is forced for a while to remain on Mithros. But is he truly a stranger? To some, his face seems familiar.
The arrival of the investigator Hermes Diaktoros, intrigued himself by the island's fabled bull, coincides with a violent and mysterious death. This violence has an echo in Mithros's recent past: in a brutal unsolved crime committed several years before, which, although apparently forgotten may not yet have been forgiven.
As Hermes sets about solving the complex puzzle of who is guilty and who is innocent, he discovers a web of secrets and unspoken loyalties, and it soon becomes clear that the bull of Mithros may only be the least of the island's shadowy mysteries.

www.bloomsbury.com/annezouroudi

First published in Great Britain 2011

Copyright © Anne Zouroudi 2011

Map © John Gilkes 2011

 

This electronic edition published 2011 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

 

The right of Anne Zouroudi to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted

by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

 

All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise

make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means

(including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying,

printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable

to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

 

Bloomsbury Publishing     London     New York     Berlin     Sydney

 

50 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3DP

 

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

 

ISBN 978 1 4088 1818 3

 

www.bloomsbury.com/annezouroudi

 

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