Description: A child's body is found in the ruins of an ancient temple on Sifnos. The boy appears to have been sacrificed in a religious ritual. Chief Officer Patronas is summoned to investigate, along with his colleagues and his friend, Papa Michalis. Is the culprit a Greek national or one of the many foreign migrants crowding its refugee camps?
Brief description: Leta Serafim is the author of the Greek Islands Mystery series, published by the Coffeetown Press, as well as the historical novel, To Look on Death No More. She has visited over twenty-five islands in Greece and continues to divide her time between Boston and Greece. You can find her online at letaserafim.com.
Review Quotes: "Set on the island of Sifnos, Serafim's timely third Greek Islands mystery (after 2015's When the Devil's Idle) centers on the murder of an unidentified boy who appears to be seven or eight. Lydia Pappas, a Greek-American ceramicist, found the blood-drained, trussed body of the likely refugee suspended over a fire pit near the shrine ruins of Thanatos. The crime scene offers few clues, and the inhabitants of the island's refugee camp, who live in tents and hovels, are mistrustful of the police and handicapped by the language barrier. Chief Officer Yiannis Patronas interviews Lydia (with whom he becomes smitten), as well as maverick American professor Richard Svenson and his three students from the U.S. Partonas also visits the refugee camp, where he meets a Syrian woman who says she's the victim's aunt. Serafim grounds her tale in Greek history, ancient and present, and provides a brutal and effective resolution to the case that will surprise most readers." -Publishers Weekly (11/18/2016)