|  | DEATH COMES BY AMPHORA
By Roger Hudson
In Ancient Athens in 461BC, aristocratic General Kimon has driven back the might of the Persian Empire and forged a new empire for Athens, making his city the commercial centre of the Eastern Mediterranean. Now he is struggling for his political existence against the radical democratic reforms of the demagogue Ephialtes and his ambitious supporter Perikles. |
Into this political turmoil steps Lysanias, just 18, just reached manhood, and an innocent amidst the deceit and corruption of the big city. Recalled from an Athenian colony by a mysterious message from his wealthy uncle Klereides, he discovers that his uncle has died in suspicious circumstances, that he is the heir, and that his obligations now include marrying his uncle’s teenage widow.
Convinced that his uncle was murdered and driven by the ancient duty of vengeance, Lysanias sets out to discover the truth, aided by his elderly slave Sindron. Their investigations take them deep into the murky interlocking worlds of Athenian politics, business, finance, religion and even art, where it seems Klereides had many enemies and where even his friends cannot be trusted. With his own loyalties torn between the rival political factions, aristocrats and workers, due to his early training as an artisan, Lysanias himself faces violent death before he and Sindron discover the culprit and Ephialtes’ assassin.
Death Comes by Amphora by Roger Hudson. ISBN: 978-1-904433-68-2.
BUY DEATH COMES BY AMPHORA
Click here to order a copy of DEATH COMES BY AMPHORA from Amazon.co.uk.
Click here to order a copy of DEATH COMES BY AMPHORA in the USA from Amazon.com.
Click here to buy DEATH COMES BY AMPHORA direct from us, as an experienced Internetter using PayPal. Price: $12.95 (USA) or �7.99 (UK and rest of world) plus postage and packing.
Alternatively, order a copy of this novel from your bookshop, quoting the ISBN number 978-1-904433-68-2Also available as an electronic book.
Click here to download the e-book from Diesel eBooks.
READ ONLINE
To read sample chapters online click on the chapter on the vertical menu to the right at the top of the page.
REVIEWS
Death Comes by Amphora by Roger Hudson isn't merely an historical who-dun-it which paints a fascinating picture of everyday life in ancient Athens. It also has:
� Political skulduggery
� Murky financial chicanery
� Class warfare
� Sex
� Prostitution
� Slavery
� A cast of larger than life characters
� And if that's not enough
� a love story as well.
Now that's what I call good value for money.
Catherine Brophy
Catherine Brophy is author of novels 'The Liberation of Margaret McCabe' and 'Dark Paradise', many short stories and film and TV scripts.
A very convincing plot and a jolly good read with a surprise at the end. Roger has shown that human nature has changed little over the centuries. The hero, Lysanias, is superb. May we have more, please.
Gerry McGovern
FROM THE SYBIL AND SLEUTH EZINE
Eighteen-year-old Lysanias and his elderly slave Sindron must navigate the political turmoil of 461 B.C. Athens, in order to find a murderer. Coming home from overseas, Lysanias finds his wealthy uncle dead, that he is heir to the old man's fortune and also required to marry his uncle's young widow. Most people know of Athens as the "Cradle of Democracy", but before that golden age flourished, tyrants and aristocrats kept firm control of the ancient city-state's wealth and power. Hudson's novel is set at that pivotal moment in time when Athens was poised between tyranny, anarchy and the birth of democracy. In the search for his uncle's murderer, young Lysanias rubs shoulders with the likes of true historical personages such as Perikles (i.e. Pericles), Aspasia & Themistokles, and thereby uncovers several plots to seize control of the Athenian political scene.
It was a clever choice of Hudson's to make his protagonist one of the few Athenians who could straddle the various social strata, and so the reader is treated to views of classical Greece that are rarely portrayed . . . to read the full review, click on 'Reviews' in the column to the right.
Kris Swank, The Sibyl & Sleuth |
|
| |
