Take a Greek Holiday This Summer with the Hermes Diaktoros Series from Anne Zouroudi

Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received these ebooks, free of charge, from NetGalley for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about them.

I was recently given the chance to check out all 4 of Anne's Herme's book series, 

all based on one of the seven deadly sins!

Since I read them back to back, I'm combining them into one review!

Synopses: 

Idyllic but remote, the Greek island of Thiminos seems untouched by the modern world. So when the battered body of a young woman is discovered at the foot of a cliff, the local police--governed more by archaic rules of honor than by the law--are quick to close the case, dismissing her death as an accident.

Then a stranger arrives, uninvited, from Athens, announcing his intention to investigate further. Hermes's methods of investigation are unorthodox, and his message to the islanders is plain--tell the truth or face the consequences. But Hermes brings his own mystery into the web of dark secrets and lies. Who has sent him to Thiminos, and on whose authority is he acting?

****

Gabrilis Kaloyeros is a bee-keeper on the beautiful Greek island of Arcadia. The ruined Temple of Apollo has been in his care for decades, and he has worked to protect it. But when crooked developers take over the island and the value of the land soars, he is persuaded through unscrupulous means to sign away his interest. Hours later he meets a violent, lonely death.

When detective Hermes Diaktoros finds his friend's battered body by a dusty roadside, the police quickly name him the prime suspect. But with rapacious developers threatening Arcadia's most ancient sites, many stand to gain from Gabrilis's death. Hermes resolves to avenge his old friend and find the true culprit, but his methods are, as ever, unorthodox.

****

A jilted bride weeps on an empty beach. A local doctor is attacked in an isolated churchyard. Trouble arrives at a bad time to the backwater village of Morfi, just as the community is making headlines with a visit from a high-ranking government minister. Fortunately, where there's trouble, there's Hermes Diaktoros, the mysterious fat man whose tennis shoes are always pristine and whose investigative methods are always unorthodox.

Hermes must investigate a brutal crime, thwart the petty machinations of the town's ex-mayor and his cronies, and try to settle the troubled waters of two sisters' relationship. But how can he unravel a mystery that not even the victim wants solved?

Review:

Reading this series will put IN Greece! Anne has a wonderful way with descriptions, and makes the reader feel the breezes off the sea, the smell of the cliff and the sand on the beach!  Which of course makes this series PERFECT for taking along to the pool, beach or cabin this Summer! You may not be able to afford a trip to Greece, but with this series, you will feel like you've already been there!

I am very much reminded of Agatha's Christie's Hercule Poirot with Hermes! He has the same fastidiousness and 'little grey cells', to solve each of the mysteries with! He comes from a 'higher authority' to help solve the crimes and deal with the 'deadly sin' of each book's mystery (Book 1- Lust, Book 2-Avarice, Book 3-Envy). This touch gives the series it's uniqueness- the combining of the classic Grecian gods and lore, with modern life and death. 

Each book builds Hermes'character to where the reader understands where the morality will come at the end of the book. But in the meantime, there is a mystery to solve, characters to wonder about and the land of Greece to admire!  I think the third book, The Doctor of Thesaly, was my favorite of the three

I highly recommend the entire series!

About 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." "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." Check out her website http://www.annezouroudi.com/  for more info!