Athenian Mystery
7 primary works
Book 1
Athens, 461 BC: A clever young man named Nicolaos has been hired by the politician Pericles to find and expose an assassin. Ephialtes, the statesman who brought democracy to Athens, has been murdered, and the city is in an uproar. It looks as if someone is attempting to stifle the world’s first democracy in its infancy. Now, Nico walks the mean streets of Classical Athens in search of the killer with the irritating help of his precocious twelve-year-old brother, Socrates. The increasing number of dead witnesses doesn’t make his job any easier. Meanwhile, Nico juggles other pressing concerns—like getting closer (much closer) to Diotima, the intelligent and annoyingly virgin priestess of Artemis. Can he discover a killer and save Athenian democracy without getting on the wrong side of the gods or the city guard?
Book 2
And to solve the crime, Nico must uncover a secret that could not only destroy Athens, but will force him to choose between love, ambition, and his own life.
The case takes Nico, in the company of a beautiful slave girl, to the land of Ionia within the Persian Empire. The Persians will execute him on the spot if they think he's a spy. Beyond that, there are only a few minor problems: He's being chased by brigands who are only waiting for the right price before they kill him; somehow he has to placate his girlfriend, who is very angry about that slave girl; he must meet Themistocles, the military genius who saved Greece during the Persian Wars, and then defected to the hated enemy.
Athens, 460 B.C. Life's tough for Nicolaos, the only investigating agent in ancient Athens. His girlfriend's left him and his boss wants to fire him. But when an Athenian official is murdered, the brilliant statesman Pericles has no choice but to put Nico on the job.
The case takes Nico, in the company of a beautiful slave girl, to the land of Ionia within the Persian Empire. The Persians will execute him on the spot if they think he's a spy. Beyond that, there are only a few minor problems: He's being chased by brigands who are only waiting for the right price before they kill him; somehow he has to placate his girlfriend, who is very angry about that slave girl; he must meet Themistocles, the military genius who saved Greece during the Persian Wars, and then defected to the hated enemy.
Athens, 460 B.C. Life's tough for Nicolaos, the only investigating agent in ancient Athens. His girlfriend's left him and his boss wants to fire him. But when an Athenian official is murdered, the brilliant statesman Pericles has no choice but to put Nico on the job.
Book 3
The third book in the critically acclaimed series set in Classical Athens, featuring the historically inspired amateur detective Nicolaos.
It is the Olympics of 460 BC. Nico's best friend, Timodemus, is a competitor in the pankration, the deadly martial art of ancient Greece. Timo is hot favorite to win. His only serious rival is Arakos from Sparta. When Arakos is found beaten to death, it is obvious Timodemus must be the killer. Who else could have killed the second-best fighter in all Hellas but the very best? The Judges of the Games sentence Timodemus to be executed in four days' time, as soon as the Sacred Games have finished.
Complicating everything is the fact that Athens and Sparta are already at each other's throats, in the opening stages of a power struggle for control of Hellas. If an Athenian is found to have cheated at the Games by murdering a Spartan, it will be everything the hawks in Sparta need to declare open war the moment the Sacred Truce is over. And that's a war Athens cannot hope to win.
Nico and his partner in sleuthing, the annoyingly clever priestess Diotima, have four days to save their friend and avert a war that would tear their world apart.
It is the Olympics of 460 BC. Nico's best friend, Timodemus, is a competitor in the pankration, the deadly martial art of ancient Greece. Timo is hot favorite to win. His only serious rival is Arakos from Sparta. When Arakos is found beaten to death, it is obvious Timodemus must be the killer. Who else could have killed the second-best fighter in all Hellas but the very best? The Judges of the Games sentence Timodemus to be executed in four days' time, as soon as the Sacred Games have finished.
Complicating everything is the fact that Athens and Sparta are already at each other's throats, in the opening stages of a power struggle for control of Hellas. If an Athenian is found to have cheated at the Games by murdering a Spartan, it will be everything the hawks in Sparta need to declare open war the moment the Sacred Truce is over. And that's a war Athens cannot hope to win.
Nico and his partner in sleuthing, the annoyingly clever priestess Diotima, have four days to save their friend and avert a war that would tear their world apart.
Book 4
The rollicking fourth book in the Nicolaos and Diotima mystery series set in Classical Athens.
Nicolaos, Classical Athens’s favorite sleuth, and his partner in investigation, the clever priestess Diotima, have taken time off to come home and get married. But hoping to get hitched without a hitch proves overly optimistic: A skull discovered in a cave near the Sanctuary of Artemis, the ancient world’s most famous school for girls, is revealed to be the remains of the Hippias, the reviled last tyrant to rule Athens. The Athenians fought the Battle of Marathon to keep this man out of power; he was supposed to have died thirty years ago, in faraway Persia. What are his remains doing outside the city walls? Nico’s boss, the great Athenian statesman Pericles, wants answers, and he orders Nico to find them. Worst of all, one of the two Sanctuary students who discovered the skull has been killed, and the other is missing. Can the sleuths solve the interlocked crimes before their wedding?
Nicolaos, Classical Athens’s favorite sleuth, and his partner in investigation, the clever priestess Diotima, have taken time off to come home and get married. But hoping to get hitched without a hitch proves overly optimistic: A skull discovered in a cave near the Sanctuary of Artemis, the ancient world’s most famous school for girls, is revealed to be the remains of the Hippias, the reviled last tyrant to rule Athens. The Athenians fought the Battle of Marathon to keep this man out of power; he was supposed to have died thirty years ago, in faraway Persia. What are his remains doing outside the city walls? Nico’s boss, the great Athenian statesman Pericles, wants answers, and he orders Nico to find them. Worst of all, one of the two Sanctuary students who discovered the skull has been killed, and the other is missing. Can the sleuths solve the interlocked crimes before their wedding?
Book 5
"It's the time of the Great Dionysia, the largest arts festival of the ancient world, held each year in honor of Dionysos, the god of wine. But there's a problem: A ghost is haunting Athens's grand theater. Nicolaos and his clever partner in sleuthing (and now in matrimony), the priestess Diotima, are hired to rid the theater of the ghost so that the festival can begin. With the help of Theokritos, the High Priest of Dionysos, they exorcise the ghost publicly, while secretly suspecting that a human saboteur is the actual culprit. Their efforts to protect the theater fall short when one of the actors is found hanged from the machine used to carry actors through the air when they play the part of gods. It's quite a theatrical murder. As Nico and Diotima dig into the actor's past, they discover all was not as it seemed. There are enough suspects to fill a theater. As the festival approaches and pressure mounts on all sides, can they hunt down the killer in time? Or will they simply have to hope for a deus ex machina?"--
Book 6
"A historical murder mystery adventure that stretches from Classical Athens to Egypt in the footsteps of the first historian, Herodotus! Nicolaos, the only private investigator in ancient Athens, discovers that helping an author with his book research can be very dangerous. The would-be author Herodotus has hired Nico and his priestess wife, Diotima, to accompany him to Egypt to research that ancient country's history. Unfortunately, Egypt happens to be in the throes of a rebellion against the Persian Empire. Pirates infest the sea route. Three different armies roam the Egyptian countryside. The river is full of crocodiles. Everywhere Nico turns, there's a secret agent ready to kill him, and he can't find a decent cup of wine anywhere. A simple historical investigation turns into a dangerous adventure of international espionage"--
Book 7
"Greece, 545 BC: It is illegal to die on the sacred isle of Delos. It's also illegal to give birth there. Yet when murder is committed, the only available detective to solve the crime is the priestess Diotima, and she is heavily pregnant. Delos is the holy birthplace of the divine twins Apollo and Artemis, and it is an island in crisis. Not only has murder tainted the holy sanctuary, but there are about a thousand Athenian troops on the island. The army is led by the statesman Pericles and has come to take away the treasury of the Delian League, the defense fund of the Greeks against the Persian Empire. The holy people are in uproar. The Athenians are exasperated. The High Priest of the Delian Apollo is not amused. To cap it off, Diotima's husband and fellow detective, Nicolaos, is implicated in dodgy dealings that link him to the murder. Somehow Diotima must find the killer, calm the island, and. oh, yes. have a baby"--
"Greece, 545 BC: The sacred isle of Delos was the birthplace of the divine twins Apollo and Artemis, and has been a most holy pilgrimage site for centuries. But now it also serves a more secular function--it is the home of the treasury of the Delian League, the defensive union of Greek city-states who have come together in wake of the Persian Wars. The treasury is a vast fund, and it is protected only by the priests and priestesses of the tiny isle and a scant armed guard. Now Pericles, the charismatic Athenian statesman, has sent his agent Nico to Delos on a dangerous (and possibly illegal) mission: to claim the treasury and bring it back to Athens, where Pericles thinks it will be safer. Nico travels with his heavily pregnant wife and partner in sleuthing, the priestess Diotima, who has been selected to give this year's annual offering to Artemis. Expecting righteous resistance, Pericles has also tasked Nico with bribing priests who try to prevent the treasury from being moved. But before he can get very far with this dubiously unholy task, Nico ends up with a murder on his hands. It is a crime against the gods to die or be born on the sacred island. Thanks to the violence over the treasury, the first blasphemy has already been committed. Can Nico solve the murder and get Diotima off the island before they accidentally commit the second?"--
"Greece, 545 BC: The sacred isle of Delos was the birthplace of the divine twins Apollo and Artemis, and has been a most holy pilgrimage site for centuries. But now it also serves a more secular function--it is the home of the treasury of the Delian League, the defensive union of Greek city-states who have come together in wake of the Persian Wars. The treasury is a vast fund, and it is protected only by the priests and priestesses of the tiny isle and a scant armed guard. Now Pericles, the charismatic Athenian statesman, has sent his agent Nico to Delos on a dangerous (and possibly illegal) mission: to claim the treasury and bring it back to Athens, where Pericles thinks it will be safer. Nico travels with his heavily pregnant wife and partner in sleuthing, the priestess Diotima, who has been selected to give this year's annual offering to Artemis. Expecting righteous resistance, Pericles has also tasked Nico with bribing priests who try to prevent the treasury from being moved. But before he can get very far with this dubiously unholy task, Nico ends up with a murder on his hands. It is a crime against the gods to die or be born on the sacred island. Thanks to the violence over the treasury, the first blasphemy has already been committed. Can Nico solve the murder and get Diotima off the island before they accidentally commit the second?"--