THE ATHENIAN MURDERS is a brilliant, very entertaining and absolutely original literary mystery, revolving round two intertwined riddles. In classical Athens, one of the pupils of Plato's Academy is found dead. His idealistic teacher suspects that this wasn't an accident and asks Herakles, known as the 'Decipherer of Enigmas', to investigate the death and ultimately a dark, irrational and subversive cult. The second plot unfolds in parallel through the footnotes of the translator of the text. As he proceeds with his work, he becomes increasingly convinced that the original author has hidden a second meaning, which can be brought to light by interpreting certain repeated words and images. As the main plot and also the translation of the manuscript advances, there are certain sinister coincidences, and it seems that the text is addressing him personally and in an increasingly menacing manner... THE ATHENIAN MURDERS constitutes a highly compelling, entertaining and intelligent game about the different ways we can see and read reality, about our refusal to take things 'as they are' and our need to interpret hidden meanings into everyday life.

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About the Author
Born in Habana in 1959 Somoza is a qalified psychiatrist but has been writing full-time since 1994. His many awards inc. the Cervantes Theatre Prize & the Cafe Gijon Prize & his novel DAFNE DESVANECIDA was shortlisted for 1 of Spain's most prestigious awards- the Nadal Prize.

Reviews
A delightfully paranoic read on both ancient and modern planes with enough literary cunning to satisfy fans of Nabokov's PALE FIRE as well as THE NAME OF THE ROSE * INDEPENDENT *
Extremely subtle and intelligent...totally absorbing * EVENING STANDARD *
It works, superbly * INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY *
This is both a riveting historical novel and a subtle, unpretentious investigation of what happens when writers write and readers read. * SUNDAY TIMES *


Awards
Winner of CWA Gold Dagger for Fiction 2002 (UK) and CWA Gold Dagger for Fiction 2002 (UK).



Book Information
ISBN 9780349116181
Author Jose Carlos Somoza
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint Abacus
Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
Weight(grams) 225g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 128mm * 21mm