The Age of Olympus (Duncan Forrester Mystery 2) by Gavin Scott
| The Age of Olympus (Duncan Forrester Mystery 2) by Gavin Scott | |
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| Category: Crime (Historical) | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: The war is officially over, but that doesn't mean that the fighting has finished - and this is Greece. A very readable crime thriller. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 320 | Date: April 2017 |
| Publisher: Titan Books | |
| ISBN: 978-1783297825 | |
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Whilst part of an SOE mission to kidnap a German commander in Greece during the war, Duncan Forrester came across an ancient Cretan stone, which he hoped could lead to the deciphering of Linear B. The war is now officially over (although a lot of people are still fighting it, mentally if not physically) and Forrester has returned to Athens with his lover, Sophie Amfeldt-Laurvig, intent on getting the necessary permissions to go to Crete and retrieve the stone. It was whilst they were in Athens that Forrester was the unwitting witness to the poisoning of a Greek poet and where he found himself pursued by a man wearing a mask. Strange as all this might seem, Forrester is convinced that the poet was not the intended victim: it should have been a general who has been approached to lead ELAS, the military arm of the Greek communists. He's the sort of charismatic man who could sway a lot of people to follow him adn that would mean certain war.
I first encountered Gavin Scott when I read the first Dunacan Forrester mystery, The Age of Treachery. I've always been a sucker for the post-war thriller of the type which was done so well by Eric Ambler or Helen MacInnes and it was no hardship to pick up the second book in this series. Although there are no obvious spoilers for The Age of Treachery, certain facts will be obvious to you if you read the second book first - and why spoil the pleasure? The cameo appearances from real people which featured in the first book continue in The Age of Olympus with the only disadvantage being that it reduces the field of possible murderers: it's a little late in the day to suggest that either Osbert Lancaster of Gerald Durrell might have had this sort of murky past!
Scott captures Greece superbly, particularly how it was just after the war (and when it was about to embark on a civil war): the country becomes a character in its on right and whilst some of the islands which feature in the story might not appear on any known map, they still have the essence of the country. And the story's populated by some memorable characters. Forrester himself comes off the page well, but doesn't dominate the plot: that privilege is given over to the locals all of whom seem to be fighting or reworking the war and preparing for the next one. I didn't spot the murderer: I had someone else entirely pencilled in, but all the clues were there.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy of the book to the Bookbag. It was a good, enjoyable read.
For further reading,how about a classic from the period: The Return of the Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett?
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You can read more book reviews or buy The Age of Olympus (Duncan Forrester Mystery 2) by Gavin Scott at Amazon.com.
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