Crime Fiction on a Euro Pass is a community meme hosted by Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise. The idea behind is that participants write a post linked to the country of the week. This week’s country is Greece. You can visit HERE the contribution of other fellow participants.
Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica periphery and is one of the world’s oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state. A centre for the arts, learning and philosophy, home of Plato’s Academy and Aristotle’s Lyceum, it is widely referred to as the cradle of Western civilization and the birthplace of democracy, largely due to the impact of its cultural and political achievements during the 5th and 4th centuries BC on the rest of the then known European continent. (from Wikipedia) See also Athens Greece Guide.
Petros Márkaris was born 1 January 1937, in Istanbul. The son of an Armenian entrepreneur and a Greek mother, he went to school at the St. George’s Austrian High School in Istanbul and studied after his Abitur for some years in Vienna and in Stuttgart. Because of his father, he belonged to the Armenian minority for many years and did not have any citizenship; he became a Greek citizen shortly after 1974, together with the rest of the Armenian minority in Greece. Markaris speaks and writes in Greek, Turkish and German. Today he lives in Athens. (From Wikipedia) See also my previous posts
- The Greek writer Petros Markaris Wins the VII Pepe Carvalho Prize.
- The Costas Haritos Series
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Basic Shareholder, by Petros Markaris
I’m currently reading 2008 Παλιά, Πολύ Παλιά, (Spanish title: Muerte en Estambul, Tusquets, 2009) stay tuned.
José Ignacio – Thank you for this very interesting background information on Athens and on Márkaris. I have learned a great deal about the different cities and authors from your posts on this meme. I look forward to reading your review of Muerte en Estambu.
You are welcome Margot. Appreciate your kind words about the background information on my posts.
Thanks for this contribution Jose Ignacio.
It was great fun to participate Kerrie. Since Petros Markaris was actually born in Istanbul he might qualify as well for our next and last visit,
Jose Ignacio: I will be keeping an eye out for English translations of mysteries featuring Kostas Haritos.
There are already some available in English Bill.
I enjoyed Che Committed Suicide and am looking forward to Basic Shareholder when its much delayed English translation is finally published. Ashes by Sergios Gakas might interest you, it is similar in some ways but perhaps a little more noir. I visited Athens again last year, and have spent several enjoyable holidays in Greece and its islands. A wonderful country and people, I have consistently found. Even the Athens riot police (whom we asked the way to our hotel) were very polite and helpful despite all their guns and shields!
Thanks for you reminder Maxine. Your original review has already open my interest on Ashes by Sergios Gakas.