The Story Behind My New Book

 

Jeff–Saturday

 

I can’t believe my twelfth Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis mystery-thriller, ONE LAST CHANCE, comes out in three days. What’s harder to believe is that my debut novel in the series –Murder in Mykonos—published in the US just one year before my first post appeared on Murder is Everywhere in February 2010.

 

My how time flies.

 

I guess that’s an appropriate observation, what with the setting for Book #12 being Ikaria, a rugged, mountainous eastern Aegean island that The New York Times labeled, “the place where people forget to die.”

 

Ikaria is a place of myth, folklore, and natural beauty; historically besieged for ages by ruthless conquerors and pirates, exploited for its resources, and forced to serve as a colony for political exiles. Today, it boasts an international reputation as one of the world’s five Blue Zones where populations live exceptionally long lives––attributed in Ikaria to the unintended consequence of its subsistence lifestyle centered on gardens, goats, orchards, olives, local wine from native vineyards, sea, and rigorous physical activity. It's also now a tourist draw for those in love with nature and a healthy lifestyle.

 

Evdilos

Agios Kirikos with Statue of Icarus in foreground

I’ve been to Ikaria several times, but it took the intervention of the writing gods for me to realize that in looking for a place to set a contemporary mystery-thriller that neither ignored nor emphasized the effects of the pandemic––yet at its core is enmeshed in its consequences––Ikaria’s unique history of successfully enduring and overcoming the most rigorous of challenges, and its international reputation for longevity, made it the perfect setting for my tale.

 

Before getting to that story line, a bit more background on Ikaria may be of interest.

 

Reputedly inhabited since 7000 BCE, Ikaria’s mountainous rocky terrain, lack of decent ports, brutal winds, and reputation as the poorest island in the Aegean, discouraged virtually all but pirates and conquerors from paying it much mind.  Pirates roamed the Aegean, raiding islands for booty, slaves, and women, often slaughtering those inhabitants they didn’t spirit away. 

 

During the 16^th century, marauding pirates so viciously terrorized the Aegean, that for eighty years Ikariots lived hidden away in secret mountain villages, a period that to this day Ikariots remember as their “century of obscurity.” As a consequence, Ikariots built camouflaged homes utilizing ravines, caves, boulders, and mountain hideaways to evade those scanning the hillsides for signs of life, and laced their homes with hidden passages and false walls should they be detected.

 

The scourge of pirates ultimately passed, giving way to a more insidious breed of plunderers.  The island’s once-vast forests of ancient oak, pine, fir, plane, and cedar trees fell victim to indiscriminate logging, a voracious charcoal industry, and in more modern times, opportunists seeing forests as an impediment to their plans for developing or farming the land. It was as if the world viewed Ikaria as nothing more than a place to exploit or ignore, leaving hardy self-reliance the Ikariots only means of survival.

 

In 1829, when Greece obtained its independence from the Ottoman Empire, Ikaria remained under Ottoman rule. Not until 1912, when Ikariots tossed out the Turks, did it join modern Greece—following five proud months as the independent country of the Free State of Ikaria, complete with its own flag, anthem, and postage stamps. But joining Greece did little to change the Ikariot’s historical skepticism toward outside help, and for much of the 20^th century, the Greek government gave little more than sporadic assistance to the island, while using it as a place of banishment for thousands of political dissidents––a decision that unleashed a fateful unintended consequence upon the entire nation.

 

After Greece’s dreadful starvation years of World War II—and four more years of Greek civil war between nationalists and communists––the Greek government banished thirteen thousand alleged communists to Ikaria.  Many of them were doctors, lawyers, teachers, and other educated creative types. The government wouldn’t allow them to live with locals, and their movements were restricted, but with so many needing places to stay, and the government offering little assistance in the way of food and shelter for the exiles, they ended up living in virtually every unoccupied house on the island. Many of those homes were in desperate need of repair, so the exiles fixed them up. Over time, locals came to regard them as welcome guests, not criminals, and after their banishment ended, many came back as tourists to visit the friends they made during their years of exile.

 

The government had chosen Ikaria to serve as a place of containment for those with unwelcome political views, but instead created a sanctuary and breeding ground for dissident thinking. When the Greek government announced shortly before the 2004 Olympics that it had crushed the nation’s most notorious terrorist organization––whose members had gotten away with murder, kidnapping, and robbery for almost thirty years––its key captured leaders were from Ikaria.

 

Now on to the story line for ONE LAST CHANCE.

 

When Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis’s long time administrative assistant (Maggie) returns home to Ikaria for the post-pandemic funeral of her 104-year-old grandmother (Yaya), she learns that Yaya is but one of many elders who died unexpectedly within the past month—all bearing identical bruises. Maggie’s quest for answers turns stereotypes on their heads, tackles real world issues, and reveals that much is not as it seems.

 

Back in Athens, Andreas and his chief detective Yianni pursue a smuggling and protection ring embedded in the Greek DEA, and its possible involvement in the assassination of an undercover cop. As leads in the elder-killings on Ikaria and the DEA corruption case converge, and danger mounts, Andreas and his crew realize there are international intrigues at play that might well stretch beyond the reach of the law. 

 

While they race to prevent yet another untimely death, Maggie’s faith in humanity, the church, and the very legal system she serves is tested in ways she never could have imagined. Leaving Andreas with but a “Hail Mary pass” last hope for securing justice for the victims.

 

Bottom Line: One Last Chance has Andreas Kaldis and his crew distilling, seemingly unrelated events down into a core motive for unthinkable acts perpetrated upon Ikaria’s oldest survivors of pandemic times by those they trust most; and emerges as a case study on the difficulty in proving wrongdoing and exacting justice.

 

I’m honored to say that Booklist awarded One Last Chance a starred review, calling it “the best yet,” and Publishers Weekly wrote, “breathtaking beauty radiates from each page… this entry will appeal to fans of Donna Leon and Louise Penny with its attractive characters and rich setting.”

 

Finally, if you’d like to participate in an upcoming virtual book event–either to praise or pound me–here’s my speaking schedule for the week of April 4-8, including links to access each event.

 

Monday, April 4, 7:30 p.m. ET
The Poisoned Pen Bookstore
Scottsdale, AZ
Virtual event, join via YouTube or Facebook Live!

Tuesday, April 5, 7:00 p.m. ET
Mystery Lovers Bookshop
Pittsburgh, PA
Virtual event, register here!

Thursday, April 7, 8:00 p.m. ET
Book Carnival
Orange, CA
Virtual event, join here!

Friday, April 22, 9:00 p.m. ET
Third Place Books
Lake Forest Park, WA
Virtual event, register here!

Thanks for bearing with me through this exercise in Blatant Self-Promotion (here’s more if you’d like to see my newsletter), but one must pay for the pencils. If you’d like to order a copy of One Last Chance, you can do so through this link to my website.  And if you’d like a signed bookplate for your copy, just ask me and I’ll be happy to send you one. 

 

–Jeff