February 27, 2017
Scott’s second Duncan Forrester mystery set in turbulent post-WWII Greece (after 2016’s The Age of Treachery) fails to realize its potential. In 1946, the British are concerned that Greece’s civil war could flare up at any moment and that Yugoslavia’s backing of the communists could help them assume power and extend the Iron Curtain. British archeologist and operative Forrester, who left Oxford to join the Special Operations Executive during the war, was hoping that he could focus on a planned expedition to “dig up” Crete. Those intentions are predictably derailed when a Dutch nemesis, who conceals horrific facial injuries behind a Phantom-of-the-Opera-style mask, resurfaces and a Greek poet is fatally poisoned. Despite multiple suspects with multiple motives, the murder mystery takes a back seat for too long, dissipating the impact of Duncan’s final reveal of the killer’s identity. Duncan’s insouciance in the face of extreme danger jars within an otherwise realistic story.