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Alex Mavros #1
A Deeper Shade of Blue
When Alex Mavros is asked to track down a missing woman, he jumps at the chance to leave the stifling heat of Athens. But after travelling to the small island of Trigono, he realises that there is more than one mystery to be solved.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published September 5, 2002
2 people are currently reading
129 people want to read
About the author
Paul Johnson
510 books21 followersLibrarian Note: There are more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 22, 2013
A corrosive collision of cultures, the gregarious Scot and the family obsessed Greek combine to fascinating effect in the main character Alex Mavros. There you have it! The Scottish first name and Greek surname! Alex struggles to find his place in the world being neither fully Scottish nor Greek, but a confusing (for him) mixture of both. Added to which he has a life long 'burden' to carry, the mysterious loss of his brother years ago, plus a strong, successful mother and an independent, irratatingly successful sister, oh and an on/off relationship with a possible girlfriend!
This is an intreaguing intertwining of three disparate stories, a Second World War love story, a missing person and the mysterious local woman with a tragic past. These three strands are slowly wound together into a strong and fascinating cord of discourse and upheaval involving a fascinating cast of characters. The local, wealthy landowner; his wastrel, elemental son; an ageing club singer/drug addicted wife; a typical hotch potch of tourist/foreign settlers and a strong scintillating cast of local Greek locals on a small island off Paros.
Paul Johnston has a vivid, detailed and gory imagination (you know this if you have read his Matt Wells series!) and it surfaces in parts in this story, gaining a stronger foothold as it unfolds, which is an interesting counterpoint to the ostensibly idyllic setting of the small Greek island of Trigono. However, the idyll of the small Greek island is shattered early on and we soon realise that it is just like any 'small town' the world over, full of hateful, small minded, ignorant people, who gang up against the 'outsider', the one amongst them who is destined to be different.
A wholly engrossing and captivating story of cultural differences and norrow minded local internecine factions set against an historical background of Ancient Greecian artefacts and more recent history as told by the Second World War story. I would recommend this book to those of you who like a well paced, multi charactered, inter racial, humanly flawed tale of simple love and outlandish greed with (perhaps surprisingly!) an amount of lesbianism!
This is an intreaguing intertwining of three disparate stories, a Second World War love story, a missing person and the mysterious local woman with a tragic past. These three strands are slowly wound together into a strong and fascinating cord of discourse and upheaval involving a fascinating cast of characters. The local, wealthy landowner; his wastrel, elemental son; an ageing club singer/drug addicted wife; a typical hotch potch of tourist/foreign settlers and a strong scintillating cast of local Greek locals on a small island off Paros.
Paul Johnston has a vivid, detailed and gory imagination (you know this if you have read his Matt Wells series!) and it surfaces in parts in this story, gaining a stronger foothold as it unfolds, which is an interesting counterpoint to the ostensibly idyllic setting of the small Greek island of Trigono. However, the idyll of the small Greek island is shattered early on and we soon realise that it is just like any 'small town' the world over, full of hateful, small minded, ignorant people, who gang up against the 'outsider', the one amongst them who is destined to be different.
A wholly engrossing and captivating story of cultural differences and norrow minded local internecine factions set against an historical background of Ancient Greecian artefacts and more recent history as told by the Second World War story. I would recommend this book to those of you who like a well paced, multi charactered, inter racial, humanly flawed tale of simple love and outlandish greed with (perhaps surprisingly!) an amount of lesbianism!
June 27, 2022
I sought out this book as I was traveling to Paros, Naxos and Athens in Greece and I wanted to read a book set in the area, which it is. All 3 places directly are fearured in the novel. I enjoyed it, and was close to giving a 4 star rating, but frankly the plot is just not very credible. Johnston tried too hard to write a plot with multiple intersecting storylines and in the end the whole thing just ended up being kind of ridiculous. One less storyline would have helped...
June 29, 2023
An interesting enough read, coarse in places, but the character of Alex Mavros could be worth pursuing. Won't go out of my way to read anymore, but would read another if I came across by chance.
February 2, 2013
Originally published on my blog here in June 2003.
After five crime novels set in a near future Edinburgh dictatorship, Johnston has moved on with A Deeper Shade of Blue. Set in contemporary Greece, it updates such thrillers as Mary Stewart's My Brother Michael as an Athenian private detective investigates the disappearance of a young woman on the remote Cycladean island of Trigono.
One similarity between this novel and My Brother Michael, other than the setting, is that it is quickly clear that at least part of the mystery here is connected to the activities of British agents and the (in this case rather reluctant) activities of the Resistance during the War. The tortuous politics of Greece since then are also involved (the detective himself is the sone of one of the one time leaders of the Greek Communist party - a similar connection to that existing between Quintilian Dalrymple and the rulers of Edinburgh in Johnston's other novels). In fact, everything you could imagine about the darker side of Greece seems to be a part of A Deeper Shade of Blue - black market antiquities, drug smuggling, extremes of sexual depravity, village vendettas and resentment of tourists - and this makes the novel rather difficult to get into.
The complexity of the background to the puzzle is not the only problem with A Deeper Shade of Blue. While reading it, the impression gained is that it is too long, and that each chapter is too long. Something of the tension and excitement that this sort of crime story, at the thriller end of the genre, needs is missing. There is much to enjoy in A Deeper Shade of Blue, but it should move faster.
After five crime novels set in a near future Edinburgh dictatorship, Johnston has moved on with A Deeper Shade of Blue. Set in contemporary Greece, it updates such thrillers as Mary Stewart's My Brother Michael as an Athenian private detective investigates the disappearance of a young woman on the remote Cycladean island of Trigono.
One similarity between this novel and My Brother Michael, other than the setting, is that it is quickly clear that at least part of the mystery here is connected to the activities of British agents and the (in this case rather reluctant) activities of the Resistance during the War. The tortuous politics of Greece since then are also involved (the detective himself is the sone of one of the one time leaders of the Greek Communist party - a similar connection to that existing between Quintilian Dalrymple and the rulers of Edinburgh in Johnston's other novels). In fact, everything you could imagine about the darker side of Greece seems to be a part of A Deeper Shade of Blue - black market antiquities, drug smuggling, extremes of sexual depravity, village vendettas and resentment of tourists - and this makes the novel rather difficult to get into.
The complexity of the background to the puzzle is not the only problem with A Deeper Shade of Blue. While reading it, the impression gained is that it is too long, and that each chapter is too long. Something of the tension and excitement that this sort of crime story, at the thriller end of the genre, needs is missing. There is much to enjoy in A Deeper Shade of Blue, but it should move faster.
June 20, 2020
When I travel, I like to read books about the places I travel to. I found a list somewhere which recommended this on as a mystery with aspects of recent Greek history. It is all that. It delves into the politics of Greece- communists vs fascists, women in their society and dislike of foreigners while dependant upon their money. Interesting suspense story set on a beautiful Greek island .
March 11, 2016
When an American tourist, Rosa Ozal, goes missing, her brother hires PI Alex Mavros to search for her on the Greek Cycladic island of Trigono. Mavros quickly learns that the islands labyrinth of caves is hiding more than meets the eye, from the deaths of two young people caught in a fishing net to stolen artifacts to hatreds lasting from World War II. The plot is at times a little improbable but Mavros is an appealing character and the Greek island setting is vividly conveyed.
February 7, 2016
Interesting book covering parts of Greek history from a different perspective. Not sure if I agreed with it, but the story is a solid and interesting. Quite believable. If you plan to go to Greece for a vacation, this is a better prep for the culture than a documentary of the Acropolis
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June 5, 2011Finding it hard to get into this but will persevere
July 23, 2011
Published again in 2009 in UK with the title "Crying Blue Murder"
August 30, 2012
Good story. Interesting protagonist and small inbred Greek island provides great background for plot. The fifth in the Alex Mavros series is coming out shortly and I shall read more to catch up.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews