Silver Stain

Alex Mavros #4

by Paul Johnston

Set against a glorious Greek background, the spellbinding new Alex Mavros mystery - Hired by a Hollywood film company to trace a missing employee in Crete, private investigator Alex Mavros is plunged into a vortex of hatred. The company is shooting a movie about the invasion of Crete by the Germans in 1941 – and their activities are stirring up old resentments among the islanders. The bitterness of the past bursts into the present when one of the film’s consultants is found dead, hanged by the neck. Suicide – or murder? Mavros investigates and is drawn into an ever-widening conspiracy.

Genres: Mystery, Ebooks

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

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. His highly-acclaimed Quintilian Dalrymple series won the John Creasey Memorial Dagger for best first crime novel.

Series:
* Quint Dalrymple
* Alex Mavros
* Matt Wells

Reviews

[Ναταλί · Rating 4 out of 5]

Αστυνομικό μυθιστόρημα με βεντέτα, εμπόρους ναρκωτικών, αρχαιοκάπηλους, νεοναζί, αγωνία, κυνηγητό και πολλές ανατροπές με βετεράνους της μάχης του 1941!
Αξίζει να διαβαστεί!

[kostas vamvoukakis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Θα μπορούσε άνετα να αποτελεί σενάριο για b movie με πρωταγωνιστή τον Billy Zane.... Παρουσιάζει την Κρήτη σαν χώρα της Αφρικής... Κατά τα άλλα είναι ελαφρύ και γρήγορο...

[Danuta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paul Johnston’s powerful Quntilian Dalrymple novels, set in a futuristic Edinburgh, where sci-fi meets noir, have won him acclaim and awards.
He is also the author of a lesser-known noir series set in Greece with the central character, Alex Mavros, a private investigator who specialises in missing person cases. So far, so main stream. However, Johnston uses the settings of the Mavros books to explore both 21st century Greece and the recent past (recent to Greece with its millennia-encompassing history) of World War II and the Nazi occupation. He writes about a community that still lives in the shadow of this occupation, as does Eastern Europe, and to a lesser extent, Western Europe. Too many novels treat this cataclysm as a piece of gung-ho adventurism with the clearly defined goodies on one side and the equally clearly defined baddies on the other.
Johnston writes about this: he does not do it.
THE SILVER STAIN marks the welcome return of Alex Mavros after a gap of seven years. The book is set in 2003, before the collapse of the Greek economy, but at a time when, in the complexity of the Greek political and financial systems, the seeds of that collapse are well sown. Mavros is an atypical noir PI – he is wisecracking and sometimes cynical, but he is also a man who is loyal to his relationships and his friends. His Greek-Scottish ancestry means he is not entirely a part of the culture he inhabits – he observes it with an outsider’s eye, and is observed, in turn, as an outsider.
He specialises in finding missing people. In previous books, this has brought him, and the people he loves, into danger. However, the necessity of living means that Mavros cannot afford to be picky and must accept a case even though it comes from a man he deeply distrusts, Nikos Kriaras, the head of the Athens police organised crime division. Johnston catches very well the banality of corruption that runs deep and destructive roots into the Greek systems.
Mavros, against his own better judgement, takes on the job of finding the missing personal assistant to a movie star. A film company is working on Crete, making a film about the 1941 Nazi invasion of the island, Freedom or Death. The invasion was marked by courage, brutality, Nazi atrocities against civilians and incompetence beyond belief on the part of the Allied command. It still carries bitter memories, and has the capacity to divide a community that contains a German ex-paratrooper who was involved in the invasion, a small group of neo-Nazis, and the inhabitants of a village in the White Mountains, a centre of partisan resistance during the war, now a centre for an illegal drug trade.
The stage is set for a Byzantine thriller, with a satisfying number of crosses and double-crosses, violence, car chases, and a cast of characters who may not always be sympathetic, but are vividly drawn
Johnston uses both the contradictions of present day Greece, and the still-remembered horrors of the Cretan invasion. Part of the novel is told from the perspective of the German paratrooper and his experience of the invasion. We also see the Cretan side, and the perspective of a British agent. The complexities and ambiguities of history stand in stark contrast to the gung-ho simplifications of a Hollywood blockbuster.
Johnston has a tendency towards didacticism in places. He wants his readers to understand Greece – its culture and in particular its language. Characters are upbraided for their mispronunciations and their lack of understanding, but this is done through the sharp eye of Mavros himself, and does not detract from the narrative.
THE SILVER STAIN is a highly readable thriller, told with pace and humour. It’s a page-turner, but it has depth and subtlety. The Mavros series is going from strength to strength.

[Πάνος Τουρλής · Rating 4 out of 5]

να καλογραμμένο αστυνομικό μυθιστόρημα που μας μεταφέρει στην Κρήτη του σήμερα και της Κατοχής, που κατηγορεί τα δεινά που φέρνει ο πόλεμος και η βία στις ψυχές και στις ζωές των ανθρώπων που πολεμούν και των άμαχων πληθυσμών. Είναι πολυδιάστατο και με πολλές εκπλήξεις και ανατροπές. Στην ιστορία εκτός από πτώματα μπλέκεται κι ένας χαμένος θησαυρός της αρχαιότητας!

Δυστυχώς αυτό είναι το πρώτο βιβλίο του συγγραφέα με ήρωα τον Άλεξ Μαύρο που μεταφράζεται στην Ελλάδα, αν και είναι το τέταρτο με τον συγκεκριμένο ήρωα. Διαβάζεται ανεξάρτητα από τα άλλα χωρίς πρόβλημα, όμως εγώ προσωπικά όταν διαβάζω κάπου κάπου μια πρόταση του στυλ \"πυροβολήθηκε σε μια περιπέτεια\" ή \"τον υπερασπίστηκε τότε που\" θα ήθελα να έχω διαβάσει τα βιβλία με τη σειρά για να είμαι πιο ενήμερος (προσωπική \"απαίτηση\", μην παρασύρεστε).

Αν και γραμμένο από ξένο συγγραφέα, η μελέτη που έχει γίνει για τη Μάχη της Κρήτης και για την Κατοχή και την Εθνική Αντίσταση στη Μεγαλόνησο είναι τόσο καλοδουλεμένη και αποδίδεται τόσο πιστά που νιώθεις άνετα να το διαβάσεις, δε βρίσκεις λάθη και ανακρίβειες και απολαμβάνεις απερίσπαστα τις περιπέτειες του Άλεξ Μαύρου.

Ο Άλεξ Μαύρος είναι Ελληνο-σκοτσέζος και ζει στην Αθήνα με την Ανδρονίκη Γλέζου. Τον πατέρα του δεν τον γνώρισε παρά ελάχιστα αφού γεννήθηκε ενώ ο αδερφός του ο Αντώνης είναι η μοναδική αποτυχημένη περίπτωση εξαφανισμένου ανθρώπου που δεν εντόπισε. Ο Λιουκ Τζάνετ, ένας επιτυχημένος παραγωγός ξένων κινηματογραφικών ταινιών, αναθέτει στον Άλεξ Μαύρο να κατέβει στα Χανιά μαζί του, όπου γυρίζει την ταινία Ελευθερία ή Θάνατος με θέμα τη Μάχη της Κρήτης, και να βρει την εξαφανισμένη βοηθό της πρωταγωνίστριας Κάρα Παρκς, Μαρία Κόντος. Έτσι ξεκινάει μια από τις πιο δύσκολες περιπτώσεις που έχει εξιχνιάσει ο Μαύρος.

Στα Χανιά ο Κόντος καταλύει στο Χέβενλι Μπλου Ρεζόρτ, ένα ξενοδοχείο που έχτισε ο Ρούντολφ Κέρστεν, ένας από τους Γερμανούς αξιωματικούς που αποβιβάστηκαν στην Κρήτη το 1941. Ο Κέρστεν, παντρεμένος με τη Χίλντεγκαρντ, έζησε μια παράξενη ιστορία: στη Μάχη της Κρήτης ήρθε αντιμέτωπος με το πραγματικό πρόσωπο της ωμής και παράλογης βίας του πολέμου, συγκρούστηκε λόγω των πασιφιστικών του τάσεων με τους ανωτέρους του και γνώρισε μια γυναίκα που υπερασπιζόταν τα πατρώα εδάφη με πρωτόγνωρη λύσσα. Ο Κέρστεν δεν μπορούσε να παραβεί τις διαταγές και γι\' αυτό δεν μπορούσε να κάνει τίποτα για να μη γίνουν εκτελέσεις και σφαγές αμάχων. Χρόνια αργότερα, γεμάτος τύψεις, επέστρεψε στην Κρήτη και διέθεσε όλα του τα χρήματα για το ξενοδοχείο στο οποίο δουλεύουν ντόπιοι, για υποτροφίες σπουδών και για πολλά άλλα υπέρ του τόπου.

Κοντά στα Χανιά είναι τα Κορναριά, ένα χωριό γεμάτο χασισοφυτείες και κράτος εν κράτει, όπου η Αστυνομία δεν μπορεί να παρέμβει. Όλα δείχνουν ότι η Μαρία Κόντος απήχθη και κρατείται σε αυτό το χωριό. Ο Μίκης Τσιφάκης, οδηγός σε εταιρεία ενοικίασης αυτοκινήτων, θα αποδειχθεί πολύτιμος βοηθός για την εξιχνίαση της εξαφάνισης της Ελληνοαμερικανίδας.

Σε αυτό το περιβάλλον καλείται να δράσει ο Μαύρος και να εντοπίσει τη χαμένη βοηθό. Η υπόθεση όμως δεν είναι τόσο απλή και πάει πολύ βαθιά στο παρελθόν! Όταν αρχίζουν να εμφανίζονται πτώματα, θρύλοι για χαμένο θησαυρό αρχαίων νομισμάτων, για μυστηριώδεις διασυνδέσεις του πατέρα της Κόντος με ναρκωτικά και αρχαιοκαπηλεία, όταν εμφανίζεται ο εγγονός του Κέρστεν που αγωνίζεται να κλέψει έναν πολύτιμο θησαυρό από τον παππού του, το παζλ δείχνει να έχει πολύ περισσότερα κόμμάτια από όσα νομισε αρχικά ο Μαύρος. Η κατάσταση θα γίνει προσωπική όταν ανακαλύπτει ο ντετέκτιβ ότι ο πατέρας του, για τον οποία ελάχιστα ήξερε, ήταν ενεργό μέλος της Εθνικής Αντίστασης στην Κρήτη κι έπεσε θύμα συκοφαντίας.

Απολαύστε αυτό το αστυνομικό μυθιστόρημα που χαρίζει αγωνία, ανατροπές, εκπλήξεις, κυνηγητό στα Λευκά Όρη, πιστολίδι και ανθρωποδιώξεις.

Στα ελληνικά από τον Ψυχογιό το 2014.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first three books in the Alex Mavros series were published between 2002 and 2004, forming a trilogy which reflected Paul Johnston’s experiences living first on a Greek island and then in Athens. There then followed a hiatus in the series while the author wrote some other excellent books, although the Greek trilogy was reissued with a new publisher in 2009. Finally in 2011 we had a new book in the series, set on the island of Crete.

In his introduction, Johnston explains that rather than updating Mavros to 2012 and placing him in the middle of the Greek economic crisis, he wanted to pick up the narrative where it finished in the last book The Golden Silence. So The Silver Stain is set in 2003, which as he rightly points out was the period leading up to the Olympics, where huge public spending contributed to Greece’s current debt problems. Crete was a good choice of location for the book as there is a timelessness about the island with the vestiges of Minoan, Venetian, Ottoman and German occupation. It is the legacy of the Second World War that forms the basis of The Silver Stain.

Alex Mavros is hired by a film production company to find Maria Kondos, the assistant to glamorous actress Cara Parks, who has gone missing on Crete. Cara is refusing to carry on filming until her assistant is found and Alex is given a generous allowance to find the girl. However when he reaches the island he discovers the subject of the film, the Battle of Crete in 1941, is stirring up unhappy memories of the occupation for many islanders. When Rudi Kersten, the German owner of the luxury hotel where Alex is staying is found hanged from a tree, his fate seems connected to events of 1941. Alex’s investigation also brings him to the attention of one of the most dangerous villages on the island, Kornaria, which is a no-go area for local law enforcers because of its current drugs activities.

As you would expect from a Paul Johnston novel, the book was an absorbing read full of interesting detail about life on Crete. He cleverly makes much of the contradiction between the unhappy memories of Nazi occupation alongside the growing neo-Nazi movement amongst disaffected Greek youths, an issue very much in the news now. He also, through the narrative, emphasises the extent to which the events of the Second World War remain a continuing obsession amongst modern Greeks.

Crete remains an island with its own sense of justice and the imagined village of Kornaria has a real life precedent. Even other islanders despair at the lawlessness and corruption of the village that has bribed every official. Alex Mavros, with his leather jacket and gung-ho attitude seems at home in the setting and by emphasising his mixed Greek-Scottish ancestry, you can see the tension between his patriotism and his despair at the irrationality of many of the islanders’ attitudes. However, there is also a sense of things changing. The Tsifakis family are a wonderful creation, Cretan, but helping Alex to uncover wrongdoings on the island

As a crime novel, The Silver Stain worked well and there were couple of red-herrings so I had fixated on the wrong character as the villain. Alex’s girlfriend, Niki, remains the only irritating character in this series and I had hoped she wouldn’t reappear in this book. I’m sure it’s deliberate as Alex seems as irritated with her as the reader. There are apparently more Alex Mavros books on their way which I’m already looking forward to reading.

[Rob Kitchin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Silver Stain uses the context of the making of a Hollywood movie about the past to examine both what happened then and its present day repercussions. Johnston does an excellent job of keeping both the past and present in frame, using the tale to illustrate how the past is variously remembered, used and contested, and how its legacy continues to rumble on. As such, the historical and political context and sense of place are particular strengths of the story, as is the characterisation. There is a fairly large cast, but each actor is well penned and vivid, and Mavros is an engaging lead character as the wily detective. The storyline itself is compelling, however, the plot strays towards being overly complex, with a large number of subplots, and it depends on an awful lot of coincidences to work. Moreover, Mavros too often succeeds where the odds are stacked against him, which pushed the narrative towards Indiana Jones territory a little too often. Whilst these plot devices create a lot of action and twists and turns, they also undermine the credibility of the story, particularly in the latter third. Less, I feel, might have been more. Nevertheless, The Silver Stain is an entertaining and enjoyable tale that rattles along at a fair clip.

[John Bishop · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 4th Alex Mavros novel, after a gap of 8 years, is set in Crete in 2003 where a Hollywood film of the Battle of Crete in 1941 has been held up by the disappearance of the star's PA. Unlike most novels that deal with the Battle, Paul Johnston's grasp of its principal features is firm, as is his knowledge of Cretan culture. From this authentic base the action rips along at a pace - I'd have read it in one go but for a reluctance to end the pleasure - to a hectic conclusion. Alex's self-deprecating humour and strained love life adds a human dimension to the action. Highly recommended.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining mayhem in Crete, complete with American movie stars, drugs undoubtedly destined for consumption in our fine country, nazis, and white- and black-hatted thugs.

[Liz V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taken from headlines in 2007-2008, when Greek police who were trying to effect an arrest were ambushed by pot-growing shepherds.