cover image MURDER AT THE PANIONIC GAMES

MURDER AT THE PANIONIC GAMES

Michael B. Edwards, . . Academy Chicago, $23.50 (250pp) ISBN 978-0-89733-500-3

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. (May)