The Mask of Zeus

Following his adventures in The Catalyst , handsome Welsh math professor John Dobie lives surrounded by speculation that he may have murdered his wife (he didn't) or pushed her killer down the stairs to his death (he did). Something of a distraction at the college in Wales where he teaches, he is persuaded by the administration to accept the offer of a visiting professorship on the island of Cyprus. There he occupies an apartment that once belonged to Derya Tuner and Adrian Seymour, both former students at Dobie's college, which is available due to Tuner's death and the imprisonment of Seymour, a druggie and failed writer, for her murder. With a gift for wayward thinking, Dobie is charmingly rendered as an innocent abroad, ogling topless bathers, imbibing plenty of exotic drinks and examining Seymour's cryptic and archly literary writings. These disclose infidelity (Dobie himself can vouch for Tuner's ample charms) and puzzle him with references to mythology, ancient masks, sunken mosaics and recent political events on the island. Occasionally weighed down by extended excerpts from the Seymour canon, the rest of the tale is playful, lively and not to be missed. (Sept.)