A Deeper Shade Of Blue by
Paul Johnston
pbk out April 03
(NEL)
at £5.99
The author is an established crime writer, with five previous books under his
belt, one of which, The Bone Yard, won the CWA John Creasey Memorial
Award for best first crime novel. Paul Johnson is a Scot living in both Edinburgh
and Greece and A Deeper Shade of Blue reveals the depth of his
knowledge of and affection for the Greek islands.
This is the first of a proposed series of books introducing Alex Mavros, a
Scottish-Greek private eye living in Athens. Alex is asked to investigate the
disappearance of a young woman who had sent a postcard home from Trigono, and
this leads him into a web of intrigue and danger on that small island in the
Cyclades. Two young people are drowned in a suspicious fishing-boat accident
just before Alex arrives and finds lodgings with a mysterious widow. It's a
complex story of an almost feudal obesiance to the resident mining tycoon, drug
dealing, archaeological misdemeanours, sexual perversions and the legacy of
a small British band of saboteurs during the war. A substantial tome, its main
feature is the strength of the writing, especially its vivid portrayal of rural
life in the Aegean islands, where xenophobia and family vendettas appear to
be the norm. The harsh environment, where people still scratch a living from
the unforgiving soil, seems matched by the unforgiving attitude of neighbours,
where even an immigrant from another island is looked on as an alien.
The familiarity and empathy of the writer with the locale is obvious, as Paul
Johnson lived on such an island for some years. The gripping result is another
confirmation of the old adage that authors should only write about things that
they know well. The mention of John Creasey above reminds one of the story he
used to tell against himself - the famous crime-writer thought he would try
a 'Western' for a change, but gave up after describing 'coyotes circling in
the sky'!
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
