From the Devil's Farm

by Leta Serafim

A Greek American tourist, Lydia Pappas, stumbles upon a child’s body in the ruins of an ancient temple, well hidden on the top of a cliff. The boy has been bled dry, though no blood is in evidence, leading the Greek police investigator, Yiannis Patronas, to believe the killer must have collected it. Greece’s financial crisis has reduced the police force on Sifnos to one officer, Petros Nikolaidis, so Patronas has been summoned from his home base of Chios to aid in the case. Accompanying him are his colleagues, Giorgos Tembelos and Evangelos Demos, as well as Papa Michalis, an ancient Orthodox priest with a vast knowledge of detective fiction and an uncanny ability to ferret out the truth. Though eccentric and often irritating, Michalis has been an asset to Patronas over the years in a land where homicide was, until recently, a rare occurrence. But Greece is changing daily, with a tide of migrants straining the country’s already diminished resources and occasionally bringing out the worst in her people. The child appears to have been sacrificed according to the rules of a pagan religious ritual. Is someone on Sifnos reviving the old ways? Or is there a thrill killer loose on the island? Is the culprit a Greek national or one of the many foreign migrants crowding its refugee camps? Book 3 in the Greek Islands Mystery series.

210 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 4, 2017

About the author

Acclaimed writer, novelist, and playwright Leta Serafim was a journalist at the Los Angeles Times Washington Bureau before moving to Greece, where she taught art and illustrated books. On her return to the U.S., she wrote features for The Boston Globe before turning to fiction, where her Greek Islands Mystery series has captivated readers and mystery fans worldwide. She is also the author of the historical novel To Look on Death No More, the children's book Molly Saw a Bear, and the new play Requiem, a two-act drama about Russian poet Anna Akhmatova. She teaches creative writing in the Boston area and continues to spend her summers in Greece.

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Reviews

[Priscilla Paton · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with her other books, Serafim blends humor, history, pathos, and unnerving crimes into an engaging mystery set in the beautiful Greek isles.

[Skye Griffith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Devil's Farm offers a fascinating albeit grisly glimpse into ancient religious practices of the Phoenicians while describing life on a tiny Greek island. An immigrant child is found murdered in an isolated section of a prehistoric Greek temple. The murder has the markings of an ancient ritual and also brings to light the struggle Middle Eastern immigrants have in Greece. The mystery is solved by a ragtag trio composed of a Greek policeman, his assistant and an octogenarian priest who add colorful vignettes about Greek island life while they stumble toward the identity of the murderer.

[Elenirodis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I very much appreciated the descriptions and commentary on contemporary Greek life and character, especially regarding economic austerity and the migrant crisis, as well as links to ancient history and religion. I didn’t find the central mystery to be all that mysterious, however, it was an excellent vehicle for exploring all the other issues.

[Jeanie Loiacono · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the Devil’s Farm is yet another great Patronas story that starts out with a horrendous crime, committed against an innocent child, in a most tranquil of places: a remote Greek island. Serafim has a way of making Patronas such a likeable guy who seems to never get a break or the woman of his dreams. In this case, he gets both, but not in the ways you would ever foresee. You will love him even more by the end of the book. As in her other three novels—The Devil Takes Half, When the Devil’s Idle, and To Look On Death No More—she weaves a believable tale that draws you in with the first sentence and denies you all else until you have read the last word. All are highly recommended.
— CJ Loiacono