Devil of Delphi: A Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis Mystery - Hardcover

When Greek police go after the counterfeit-wine industry, they stir up a hornet's nest of syndicate counteroffensives and unleash a psychopath. Kharon, a young man with a criminal record that was expunged because of his youth, is hitchhiking in Delphi. After the driver who picks him up puts a move on him, Kharon directs them to a secluded place, where he brutally kills the driver. Meanwhile in Athens, Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis, head of the Greek Police's Special Crime division (Sons of Sparta, 2014, etc.), is asked by a trio of colleagues to tackle the illegal wine industry, which undermines the reputation of local producers and harms tourism. While he and detectives Kouros and Petro gather information, Kharon's aggression and reputation among local criminals gets him noticed. In short order, he makes his way to the local kingpin, a disarmingly direct and low-key woman known as Teacher. She gives him a shot at being her enforcer. Kharon learns her violent bona fides from Jacobi, a midlevel criminal. Because mutual trust is scarce in her line of work, Teacher finds it challenging to control her volatile new pit bull. The apparently casual murder of the daughter of a renowned Greek politician right in front of her brother puts the police on a different trail, one that leads back to Teacher. Though the reader is always several steps ahead of the police here, Siger's sublimely malevolent villains make the book a page-turner.

"Siger brings Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis some very big challenges in his seventh mystery (following Sons of Sparta, 2014) set in troubled contemporary Greece. Political shenanigans, economic crises, and class conflict were as prevalent in ancient times as they are today, so it is no surprise that Kharon, a gifted assassin, living in beautiful Delphi and trying to rebuild his life on the straight and narrow, should fall under the spell of a thoroughly evil underworld boss, a modern Oracle of Delphi. With no choice but to do the oracle's bidding or be exposed for his past killings, Kharon is dispatched to assassinate those who would interfere with the boss' counterfeit liquor trade, which has caught the eye of Kaldis and his Special Crimes Division. There are multiple sources of appeal here: the fast-paced plot, the landscape, and, as always, the appealing camaraderie shared by Kaldis and his crew, as well as the bantering relationship between the inspector and his well-connected wife, Lila. The final plot twist proves well worth the wait, but it won't take readers long to get there as they will be turning pages at a ferocious clip."

Delphi once stood at the center of the world, a mountainous, verdant home to the gods, where kings and warriors journeyed to hear its Oracle speak. The Oracle embodied the decree of the gods—or at least the word of Apollo. To disobey risked...everything.Young Athenian Kharon chooses modern Delphi to rebuild his life among its rolling hills and endless olive groves. But his dark past is too celebrated, and his assassin’s skills so in demand, that his fate does not rest entirely in his own hands. Greece is being flooded with bomba, counterfeits of the most celebrated alcoholic beverages and wine brands. The legitimate annual trillion-dollar world market is in peril. So, too, are consumers—someone is not just counterfeiting booze, but adulterating it, often with poisonous substances. Who is masterminding this immensely lucrative conspiracy? Kharon learns who when the ruthless criminal gives him no choice but to serve her. Her decrees are as absolute as the Oracle’s, and as fearsomely punished. Kharon agrees, but dictates his own payoff. And his own methods, which allow his targets some choice in the outcomes.When Kharon unexpectedly shoots a member of one of Greece’s richest, most feared families, he draws Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis into the eye of a political and media firestorm threatening to bring down Greece’s government. Think “Breaking Bad,” Greek-style.