Review: A Deeper Shade of Blue

I'd been wanting to read this book for quite a while, and after I picked up my spiffy signed copy from the CiS booth at BCon, I settled in and read it over a few days when I really should have been studying for my midterm. But when faced with a choice of banging my head against the wall with arcane analytical chemistry or immersing myself in contemporary Greece with a very appealing half-Scot/half-Greek PI, well, guess what I picked almost every time.

Seriously, I loved this book. It's the kind you have to read slowly, just to pick up every nuance of Johnston's prose and the richness of all the characters, from the conflicted protagonist, Alex Mavros, to his family, the inhabitants of the isle of Trigono where he's investigating, to the long-dead soldier-poet whose adventures play a crucial role in the story.

Mavros, based in Athens, goes to Trigono for what seems to be a relatively ordinary missing persons case. Rosa Ozal, an American tourist, was last seen in Trigono some months earlier, but when she loses contact, her brother Denis--who seems unusually indifferent even though he's footing the bill--hires Mavros to look into things. But Trigono offers nothing but conflicting stories and other mysteries, like the young couple found drowned in a fishing net, the elusive old millionaire and his trashy bottle-blond wife, and three complex women with supposedly dubious reputations. Just to name a few.

And I really liked Mavros. He's got his demons, and he doesn't always do the right thing (especially in regards to his sometime girlfriend) but he's never, ever dull, and his leaps of logic aren't pulled from the Contrivance Drawer. Since this is the first in a projected series, I am curious to see more of him, his interactions with his family, and how much his past will drive him.

It's a crying shame there's no US publisher attached (at least, that I know of) but if you want a story set in a very different locale with lots and lots of layers, definitely get this book. Now I have to hunt up Johnston's backlist just to see how different the Dalrymple books were!

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Sarah - RAM

Book Review: A Deeper Shade of Blue