Deeper Shade of Blue [Paperback]

Paul Johnston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 28, 2003

When Alex Mavros is asked to track down a missing woman, he jumps at the chance to leave the stifling heat of Athens. Travelling to the small island of Trigono, he soon realises that there is more than one mystery to be solved. How did a young couple drown in the nets of a fishing boat? Why did a British journalist leave without telling her friends? Why is the millionaire Theocharis so nervous and whose bones does old Maro keep beneath her bed? The answers lie in events that took place during the Second World War, events that tie in with the island's most ancient history. In a race to prevent a terrible crime being repeated, Alex Mavros is pitted against a ruthless and depraved killer...

Editorial Reviews

Review

'A sensual portrait of modern Greece, as well as a great page-turner: taste the salt, feel the heat as you follow the dramatic story!offers much more than the crime fiction genre usually encompasses: a rich and intelligent story, with fascinating characters' Scotland on Sunday on A DEEPER SHADE OF BLUE 'A new departure for an immensely talented author, and the change of scene from the Scotland of the earlier books to the author's new home of Greece pays great dividends' Barry Forshaw, Publishing News on A DEEPER SHADE OF BLUE 'Excellent' - Philip Kerr on A DEEPER SHADE OF BLUE 'Another fine example of great storytelling' - Sunday Telegraph on THE HOUSE OF DUST 'Johnston brings an intelligent perspective to the dark excitement of the thriller' - Nicholas Blincoe, Observer on WATER OF DEATH 'A perfect setting for a tense thriller... This is an intelligent and satisfying book, part contemporary thriller, part the dark sister of Captain Corelli's Mandolin' -- Scotsman

About the Author

Paul Johnston was born in Edinburgh, studied Greek at Oxford and now divides his time between the UK and a small Greek island. He is also the highly-acclaimed author of the Quintilian Dalrymple series, winning the John Creasey Memorial Dagger for best first crime novel.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: New English Library (April 28, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0340766158
• ISBN-13: 978-0340766156
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,708,125 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Poorly written good mystery, December 22, 2004

By 

Lisane - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deeper Shade of Blue (Paperback)

A Deeper Shade of Blue is, as a mystery, fairly satisfying. Three-quarters of the way through the story, you still have no idea why the central event has taken place or who perpetrated it, but the search for answers continues to be interesting.

Alex Mavros, a Scots-Greek private investigator, has been hired by a Turkish-American to search for a missing person who was last seen on the Greek island of Trigono. There are suspects aplenty, both foreign and native, on the tourist island. Alex is an interesting character, and it would have been great to see what a better writer might have made of him.

This is a story that could have been riveting, were it not for the fact that the author is a mediocre writer at best. The only thing wrong with this book is the writing, which unfortunately is the medium through which the story is told. Three-quarters of the way through the book, I felt could no longer stand another stock phrase or cliched description. I really wanted to know why the missing person had been abducted, and who did it, but I couldn't take one more line of this man's writing. It's a mystery to me how he ever found a publisher, let alone a readership.