Product Description

Set in the Greek city-state of Priene in 650 B.C., this fascinating murder mystery opens with Bias, the protagonist, being stalked by a murderer at the sacred grounds of the Panionion, the religious and political center of the Ionic League.

As Bias crouches at the back of a cave, he recalls the events of the previous weeks which led him to his predicament.

A minor priest, Bias assists at the opening of the Panionic Games by securing the blessing of Priene’s reigning deity, Poseidon. But while the games are being blessed, Priene’s best athlete is poisoned and dies in Bias’s arms. The citizens perceive Bias to be infected by the "miasma of death" and he is challenged with the responsibility of finding the killer.

As the Games progress, Bias is in the unenviable position of having to interrogate some very influential people and their families. The magistrates, athletes and aristocrats grow increasingly impatient with his murder investigation. When another favored athlete is killed in a chariot race, the pressure on Bias intensifies. Was it an accident? The athlete’s uncle doesn’t think so, and Bias himself is nearly killed before yet another victim is claimed.

Finally, Bias sets a trap for the murderer on the sacred grounds of the Panionion and he finds a solution to these crimes in the darkness of the cave where the action began.

Told with wit and authentic period color, this is an unusual mystery that readers will remember for its convincing plot and unique historic atmosphere.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #908485 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 260 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Set in Greece in 650 B.C., this cleanly plotted tale featuring a young priest named Bias as detective is so simply told it might almost be aimed at the young adult market. The city-states of the Ionic Greek league have gathered their champions for a series of games, when a star athlete dies during the opening rites in the Panionion. This temple, where Bias serves as a subpriest, is where bulls are sacrificed to Poseidon and governing councils are held. Since his aristocratic family has fallen on difficult times, Bias labors to earn money to preserve their farmland and provide dowries for several sisters approaching marriageable age. When he and another athlete, Endemion, catch the poison victim as he collapses, Bias is infected by "the miasma or pollution created by a murder, especially on sacred ground." The belief is that this miasma might endanger the games and the city-state, and it is suggested that Bias has a strong personal interest in solving the crime, to "cure" himself of the murder taint. "In that case, why can't Endemion be your investigator?" the young priest protests. "He is as polluted as I am!" Aided by Duryattes, a household slave, Bias sets out to interview his suspects, all belonging to influential families. Another death, in a chariot race, soon complicates his quest. The motives for murder are nicely tied to the period, but overall Edwards doesn't approach the current level for ancient mysteries set by Steven Saylor and others who publish with mainstream houses.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Bias, Second Priest of the Poseidon Temple in the island city of Priene, off the coast of Greece in 650 B.C., is the guy who does all the work and gets none of the credit. Now he must figure out who poisoned young Tyrestes, an athlete in Priene for the Panionic Games, a festival to rival the mainland's Olympic Games. Young Bias, clever but unassuming, must first establish a motive. Was the killer a rival athlete, a rival lover, or someone else? The possibilities are numerous, and the stakes become much higher when a chariot driver is killed after his axle was partially cut in half. Bias, through true to his time, is a detective created from the same mold as John Lutz's Alo Nudger, a thoroughly likable nebbish who hates violence and fears his own shadow. The period detail is fascinating (especially the elaborate social structure), the plot clever, and the humor surprisingly contemporary but never anachronistic. Let's hope sequels are in the making. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
MICHAEL B. EDWARDS is a Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel who teaches at Garinger High School in Charlotte, NC. As a career officer, he traveled widely, including tours of duty in England, Germany and Izmir, Turkey. A passionate student of history, he visited many ancient artifacts in Turkey and was inspired by them to write this first mystery novel. He has personally visited every site in the Ionic League mentioned in his novel. He lives with his wife, Sylvia, in Charlotte. They have three children.

Customer Reviews

amazing - in a negative sense
I am sorry for a harsh judgment on this book that I have to deliver. This novel is indeed an amazing piece of incompetence.
It presents a remarkable mixture of dozens of the learned Greek words and total ignorance about certain basic things which constitute our knowledge of ancient Greece (it suffices to point out the reference to gladiators - and this is in the context of VI B.C. Hellenized Asia Minor, while the gladiatorial games were introduced, at least a centure later, in Rome by the Etruscans!). Even more astonishing is the author's onomastics: almost all the names (with the exception of the narrator Bias who was indeed a historical figure, one of the Seven Sages of Greece, and a couple of others) are notoriously un-Greek; in classical times, the Greek alphabet did not have a letter to connote the sound V, so a character called Valato is a sheer impossibility; no more possible were the names like Bilassa, Ossadia or Ustius. Why the author had not taken trouble to select for his characters any of hundreds Greek names historically attested? This is a magnificent example of sloppiness, increasingly characteristic of many present day practitioners who write historical fiction. Furthermore, I fear that a greater historical accuracy might have destroyed, or at least damaged, this novel's plot (in itself, neither inventive nor especially exciting). In any event, the author should have been advised, befor submiting it for publication to his, I fear to say, equally incompetent editors, at least to consult a professional classicist who could have helped him to remove numerous anachronisms, and only then perhaps make an a try at salvaging the book

A Great Weekend Read!
This book is an intriguing read, full of adventure and suspense. A great book to take with you to the beach or for your weekend getaway, it is easy to read, but that doesn't detract from the mystery. I highly recommend it as both a historical fiction and a mystery.

A Great Read
This mystery novel set in ancient Greece is a fun read and immensely enjoyable. While the whodunnit part is not as difficult to figure out as others in the genre, it was still a great ride due to the novelty of the setting. There are a few anachronisms but most readers will not feel the need to pore over the text to find them.
All in all, I heartily recommend this book and look forward to the next installment in this series.