(Fiction, Mystery, Historical, Series)

In February 2014, I greatly enjoyed one of Cleverly’s books from her Joe Sandilands series. Since then, I had heard positive things about her Laetitia “Letty” Talbot series, so I decided to give it a whirl, starting with the first in the series.

Set in 1928 Crete, it features aspiring archaeologist Letty, determined to succeed in a male-dominated field.

The mystery was solid, and kept me guessing, but I am so weary of Golden Age heroines with modern-day sensibilities. I may stick to Cleverley’s other series.

4 stars ( )

A well-constructed mystery set in Crete, with romance and betrayal, exotic setting and archaeologists. Quintessential fun reading. ( )

Supposedly this was the first in the series, but I kept feeling like there was something that happened before that I didn't know about. ( )

Supposedly this was the first in the series, but I kept feeling like there was something that happened before that I didn't know about. ( )

I bought this book because I had read and enjoyed several of the author's Joe Sandilands books set in India in the 1920s. I was attracted to this new series by its archaeological aspects and its setting on the Greek island of Crete. While The Tomb of Zeus does have a strong sense of place, it has too many weaknesses for me to find much pleasure in reading it.

All of the characters who were supposed to be archaeologists were actually dilettantes who, nevertheless, were able to survey a site and within minutes pick a spot to dig that would yield a major find. Once they found this promising spot, they were able to uncover the architectural ruins within a day or two. I know enough about archaeology to realize that this is simply implausible.

There's a lot of dialogue in the book, and it's mostly unnatural. The characters speak in paragraphs where a sentence or two would do, and the syntax is awkward. People don't talk that way now, and I've read enough books written in the time period in which this book is set to know that people didn't talk that way then, either.

The cover calls this "a Laetitia Talbot mystery", yet Letty isn't the crime solver in the book. She's more like Hastings to the local policeman's Poirot. She provided some useful information and insights, but the policeman didn't need Letty's help to connect all the dots.

Finally, this seems to be a book in search of a genre. Romantic suspense? Historical mystery? Adventure novel? English country house mystery? At times it resembled them all. If I had to pick one, I'd say it is most like an English country house mystery, despite its Greek setting.

If this had been my first exposure to Barbara Cleverly's writing, I never would have picked up another of her books. For a better example of her writing, I recommend my favorite of her Joe Sandilands novels, The Damascened Blade. ( )