The Messenger of Athens

The Messenger of Athens by Anne Zouroudi

Category: Mystery

Price: $16.31

Hardcover: 336 pages

Publisher: Reagan Arthur Books(July 19, 2010)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0316075426

ISBN-13: 978-0316075428

Blurb:

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 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?

This is the first book in the Mysteries of the Greek Detective series

My Thoughts:

Well written, this book will keep mystery lovers turning page after page, trying to figure out where the author is going. The descriptions of the area are beautiful and you go on a mind vacation.

I wouldn't say this is the best murder mystery I've ever read, but it sure kept my attention and I can't wait for the next in the series.

Meet The Author:

Anne Zouroudi was born in Lincolnshire in 1959 and grew up in England's industrial north, in the steel city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire. After a number of years in a lucrative career - which included time working on Wall Street, and in Denver, Co - she gave up an excellent job to live in the Greek islands. She married a Greek, and her son was born on the island of Rhodes.

"The truth is," she says, "I was a Shirley Valentine."

Anne's writer's eye records in fascinating detail the minutiae of the lives of the Greek people, and her mould-breaking crime novels bring Greece's timeless landscapes vividly to life. She regards her work as a labour of love. "Greece," she says, "is my spiritual home, the land that stole my heart and shows no sign of ever returning it."

Her first novel, The Messenger of Athens, was nominated for the Desmond Elliott Prize for Sparkling New Fiction, and ITV3's Crime Thriller Awards 2008.

Anne now lives in middle England, in the beautiful Peak District National Park. "It's pretty," she says. "But Greece still calls my name. At every opportunity, I'm there."

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Commuters

Commuters by Emily Gray Tedrowe

Category: Fiction/Family

Price: $10.07

Paperback: 400 pages

Publisher: Harper Perennial(June 29, 2010)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0061859478

ISBN-13: 978-0061859472

Blurb:

After losing her husband of many years, seventy-eight-year-old Winnie Easton has found love again with Jerry Trevis, a wealthy, elderly Chicago businessman; their decision, however, to buy one of the biggest houses in the small, upstate town of Hartfield, New York, ignites anger and skepticism in their families. Jerry's daughter, Annette, fearing for her inheritance, takes drastic action to freeze Jerry's assets; Winnie's daughter, Rachel, struggling with her own finances, accepts Jerry's offer of a loan; and Avery, Jerry's twenty-year-old grandson, a hotshot chef with a cocaine-fueled past, scouts out Manhattan venues in which to start his own restaurant--with Jerry's money to back him up.

With so much riding on Jerry's wealth, a rapid decline in his physical health forces hard decisions on the family, renewing old loyalties while creating surprising alliances. Commuters traces the interwoven stories of Winnie, Rachel, and Avery as each is changed by the repercussions of one marriage, and by the complex intertwining of love, family, and money.

My Thoughts:

This is a very impressive debut novel that takes you into the lives of a family whose elder widow has fallen in love and decides to marry. The reaction is anger, surprise, bewilderment, and fear. The author takes us on a journey of family battles, humor and love.

I would definitely recommend this book.

Meet The Author:

Emily Gray Tedrowe has published fiction in Crab Orchard Review, Other Voices, and Sycamore Review, among other journals. She won an Illinois Arts Council Literary Award for one of her short stories, and has received fellowships from the Ragdale Foundation and the Virginia Center for Creative Artists. Born in New York City, Emily lives in Chicago with her husband and two daughters. Commuters is her first novel.

Visit her website