The Viper's Kiss [Hardcover]

Paris Aristides (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 28, 2001

One of the three premier releases in Intrigue's new WorldKrime series, The Viper's Kiss is a refreshing return to the hardboiled, masculine edge of detective fiction, as well as an exciting example of the international mystery.

Middle-aged private eye Chrisostomos Zaras is given a break from chasing adulterers when a whiskey smuggler hires him to find a missing thief, along with a lost fortune. Leaving his native country of Greece for the tension-filled shores of Cyprus, Zaras immediately seeks out the island's criminal network.

Zaras' only link to the nefarious underground operating in the town of Limassol is the beautiful and elusive Lena, secretary and mistress to the mob, whose motives, though plainly stated, he suspects are far more dubious. With the help of his taxi-driver sidekick, Nikitas, Zaras uncovers a plot involving Greek mobsters, drug trafficking, corrupt officials, and murderous Turks, with hidden agendas around every corner.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Three premier novels from Intrigue's new WorldKrime series promise noirish thrills. In The Viper's Kiss, by Paris Aristedes and translated by Rebecca Koutsoudis, middle-aged Greek PI Chrisostomos Zaras is hired by a whiskey smuggler to track down a thief and a missing fortune in the gangsters and cultural divisions of Cyprus.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

A self-acknowledged smuggler hires Chrisostomos Zarras, a middle-aged Athens private detective, to find the man who stole the payoff for a shipment of contraband whiskey. So Zarras travels to Cyprus, where he interrogates the smuggler's beautiful and not unsympathetic secretary, tails the errant ship's devious captain, and discovers a murder victim all the while encountering a wide variety of idiosyncratic bit players and temporary assistants. The plot moves forward with alacrity despite a few abrupt transitions, and readers will savor the Cyprian surroundings. Part of Intrigue's new "World Krime" series featuring the best in international crime fiction.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 294 pages
• Publisher: Intrigue Press (October 28, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890768383
• ISBN-13: 978-1890768386
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,969,511 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gritty Taste of Cyprus, November 11, 2001

By 

Franklin Hobbs (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Viper's Kiss (Hardcover)

Having exhausted myself ready contemporary mainstream mysteries, I've been a long time looking for crime fiction that breaks the rules. I've found such a gem in Intrigue Press's new WorldKrime series (which specializes in international mystery stories, written by foriegn authors).

The Viper's Kiss is a no holds barred detective stories with a complex, shifting plot and memorable characters that will stick in your head long after you finish. Greek Private Eye Chrisostomos "Tommy" Zaras is a no-nonsense, hard-drinking, womanizing hero who makes no apologies. He is hired by a whiskey smuggler to recover a lost fortune on the island of Cyprus--a place of intense racial tension, since almost half of the island has been occupied by the Turkish Military since the mid-seventies. Criminals abound in this tale, as do beautiful, seductive woman, earnest sidekicks and meddling authorities.

WorldKrime thoroughly delivers on its promise of a unique mystery reading experience, as the age-old detective novel gets a refreshing new spin in this rich, absorbing mediteranean locale. I would highly recommend the Viper's Kiss to any mystery fan whose been waiting a long time to be surprised.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hard-boiled in Cyprus, March 21, 2002

By 

A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Viper's Kiss (Hardcover)

I should note from the start that this is a book I picked up and read solely because it is set in Cyprus. I'm a firm believer in the ability of crime fiction to show the reader a side of a city, country, or any locale, that they will never encounter in guidebooks. And to that end, this hard-boiled tale set Limassol, in the Greek part of Cyprus, is certainly worth reading. The story follows Chrisostomos "Tommy" Zaras, a middle-aged, but tough as nails PI from Athens who is hired by a smuggler to locate a $200,000 stolen payoff for a load of whiskey. He's a completely traditional Mike Hammer type PI, a hard-drinking, womanizing bastard who takes and dishes out plenty of violence. He's the kind of character that knows that the more you treat women like dirt, the sooner they'll be back for more. He's certainly unlikeable, but no more so than any of the villains and thugs he encounters trying to find the $200,000, and that's more of the less the point. Anyone familiar with noir and hard-boiled fiction will pretty easily identify the femme fatale as the central player at the core of an exceedingly convoluted scheme. The translation from the Greek is excellent, and while the story keeps moving right along, the climax is a bit of a farcical letdown. Cyprus comes across as a kind of simmering Mediterranean backwater, where if you have enough money, you can get away with almost anything-or get killed.