Book Summary and Reviews of A Darker God by Barbara Cleverly

A Darker God by Barbara Cleverly

A Darker God

A Laetitia Talbot Mystery

by Barbara Cleverly

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  • Published:
  • Mar 2010, 416 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Paperback Original. Award-winning author Barbara Cleverly returns with this spellbinding new mystery featuring aspiring archaeologist Laetitia Talbot. In Athens in 1928, Letty begins a perilous race to unearth a plot steeped in betrayal, seething with retribution, and about to explode in a wave of lethal violence.

In the open-air theatre of the dark god Dionysos, Letty watches a performance of an ancient Greek tragedy. But the revenge that is exacted onstage, the dagger that is wielded, and the blood that flows in full view of the audience are not theatrical effects. As Letty digs for clues, she unearths disturbing secrets and dark animosities with catastrophic implications worthy of a Sophocles—but of far more recent vintage.

Now, as a killer cuts a merciless swath across a country in the throes of political instability, Letty herself steps unawares into the murderer’s savage spotlight—a light so bright she may not be able to see the dark figure behind it until it’s too late.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Talbot, who had an affair with Merriman, is a less memorable lead than such other female sleuths of the same period as Maisie Dobbs and Phryne Fisher." - Publishers Weekly

"Cleverly has found her voice in Laetitia Talbot, and fans of Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs and Kerry Greenwood's Phrynne Fisher will want to meet her." - Library Journal

"Archeological treasures, a reenactment of a classical Greek tragedy and Balkan politics vie rather unevenly for prominence in this heavy-handed third outing for Letty." - Kirkus Reviews

"A complex, well-plotted historical mystery enlivened by its feisty and more-than-modern protagonist." - Booklist

This information about A Darker God was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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Author Information

Barbara Cleverly Author Biography

Barbara Cleverly was born in the north of England and is a graduate of Durham University. A former teacher, she has spent her working life in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk; she now lives in Cambridge. She has one son and five stepchildren. She is the author of twelve books in the Joe Sandilands series, including The Last Kashmiri Rose, Strange Images of Death, The Blood Royal, Not My Blood, and A Spider in the Cup.

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