Z: Zouroudi

The Messenger of Athens by Anne Zouroudi

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book, but I'm not sure I would classify it as a mystery (the publisher and the reviews of it do). The book begins with a dead body and by the end we know who it was and how she died. There isn't a detective, per se. There is 'the fat man' who seems to know things for no reason that the reader is told and takes actions as if he is one of the Gods to whom he occasionally refers to set things right (as he sees 'right' anyway).
The stories told about the various people on this little Greek island are interesting and the writing is good. I am interested to see where Zouroudi takes this character in subsequent books.

"To know the place of his grave from early childhood has an effect on a man." (p. 56)

This post is part of the Crime Fiction Alphabet 2012 at Mysteries in Paradise.

I had to do some searching to find a Z book for this project and while hunting through the past alphabets for a book to read I found some really clever Z postings: Z is for Ziti and Other Delicious Food, and Z is for Zeitgeist  were particular favorites.