The Lady of Sorrows - Hardcover

Anne Zouroudi was born in England and has lived in the Greek islands. Her attachment to Greece remains strong; the country is the inspiration for much of her writing. She now lives in northern England.

On a remote Greek island, the Lady of Sorrows icon—said to have washed ashore in 1863 when it saved sailors from drowning—is famed for its miraculous powers. But when Hermes Diaktoros visits with an art-historian friend, they can tell the icon is a fake and intend to alert authorities. However, the sudden death of the island’s icon painter gives Diaktoros pause, for the death seems unnatural, despite a doctor’s findings to the contrary. So Diaktoros, an investigator who answers to some higher authority, searches for answers and—as he is prone to do—metes out justice. The background of Diaktoros, described as “the fat man,” remains mysterious, but his direct dealings with villagers produce the answers needed to put all of the pieces of the puzzle together. The fourth in Zouroudi’s Seven Deadly Sins mysteries (after The Doctor of Thessaly, 2012), this is a sun-drenched, atmospheric tale, gentle in tone despite the forgery, murder, incest, and betrayal in its pages. Seldom are locales portrayed in so appealing a fashion. --Michele Leber