Shadows of Athens

Name: Shadows of Athens
Brand: Hachette UK
Availability: InStock
Author: JM Alvey
ISBN: 9781409180760

Author: JM Alvey

Narrator: Gavin Osborn

Unabridged: 9 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Orion

Published: 03/07/2019

Categories: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Crime, Amateur Sleuth

Synopsis

443 BC, and, after decades of war with Persia, peace has finally come to Athens. The city is being rebuilt, and commerce and culture are flourishing.

Aspiring playwright Philocles has come home to find a man with his throat cut slumped against his front gate. Is it just a robbery gone wrong? But, if so, why didn't the thieves take the dead man's valuables? With the play that could make his name just days away, he must find out who this man is, why he has been murdered - and why the corpse was left in his doorway.

But Philocles soon realises he has been caught up in something far bigger, and there are those who don't want him looking any further . . .

About JM Alvey

J M Alvey studied Classics at Oxford in the 1980s. As an undergraduate, notable achievements in startling tutors included citing the comedic principles of Benny Hill in a paper on Aristophanes, and using military war-gaming rules to analyse and explain apparent contradictions in historic accounts of the Battle of Thermopylae. Crime fiction was always relaxation reading and that love of mysteries and thrillers continued through a subsequent, varied career, alongside an abiding fascination with history and the ancient world.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Kate

A murder mystery set in the streets of Athens in the mid 5th century BC, in the time of the great Pericles. The Athenian setting is wonderful. I was fascinated by the depiction of society, particularly its attitudes towards women, slaves and outsiders. And it's this background and comment, rather th......more

Goodreads review by Stephen

easy going read about a murder in ancient Greece (Athens) and has similar traits as sansoms shardlake. took a little while to get into the book but as soon as I did, interesting read......more

Goodreads review by Keith

An Athenian Drama The author is a Classics graduate and this who-dunnit set in democratic Athens of the Fifth Century BC shows accurate knowledge of the history and culture of ancient Greece as Athens begins to tighten grip on its allies and turn them into an empire. That is the highpoint of this rev......more

Quotes

There is a new star in the classical firmament. Philocles is engaging, inspiring and feels absolutely real. This is historical writing at its best and crime writing worthy of prizes. Riveting

Superb . . . A fabulous read IRISH TIMES

Historical sleuthing finally gets its grown-up trousers. The book's got wit and knowledge and the winning knack of immersing the reader in ancient Greece and the whole theatrical scene there. It shows a thorough understanding of time and place, and has a dark heart of thuggery and murder.
Finally, someone has taken on Saylor and Davis and brought us out of Rome at last!

If you like C J Sansom's Tudor sleuth Matthew Shardlake, you'll love this - a gripping murder mystery set in a fantastically fully-realised ancient Athens, which will keep you guessing to the very end

Historical crime writing that virtually reinvents the genre. Ancient Athens is recreated with a masterly touch, while the beleaguered Philocles is the perfect protagonist to lead us through this vividly evoked menacing world

I loved it; great sense of place, terrific characters and a cracking plot

As vivid and lively as a Greek wedding - but with rather more blood!

Intriguing . . . a refreshingly different setting portrayed with a convincing air of authenticity. I hope it's the first of many

It's about time someone did for ancient Athens what Lindsey Davis' Falco novels do for Ancient Rome. Alvey sets the scene perfectly, with easy brushstrokes and lightly worn learning. In Philocles we have an aspiring playwright, man of the people and reluctant detective. I look forward to his next case...

Alvey has combined the best features of a crime novel and a work of historical fiction. The result is a pacy, exciting and intelligent story set in a rich world overlooked by most modern novelists. The plot is clever and solidly rooted in history, the characters vivid, sympathetic and lifelike and the world of Athens is gloriously recreated. Best of all, for me, while Shadows of Athens is taut and historically detailed, it also displays a quirky sense of humour - [I] loved it