Gary Corby (The Ionia Sanction) has managed an unlikely feat with his series starring Nicolaos, a detective in classical Greece: he's written mysteries that combine funny characters and intriguing crimes with accurate history.
Pericles, the biggest political player in Athens, has asked Nicolaos to investigate the suspicious death of one schoolgirl and the disappearance of another at the Sanctuary of Artemis. The two girls had found a cache of scrolls apparently written by Hippias, the last tyrant who controlled Athens before its democratic experiment began. There has always been controversy surrounding Hippias's defeat at Marathon, and Pericles fears that the recent crimes might have been engineered by a traitor to the Athenian cause.
Nicolaos, mere weeks from his wedding, is reluctant to involve his fiancée, Diotima, but since Diotima was formerly a student at the sanctuary, she insists on assisting him. They find a collection of odd characters at Diotima's old school, including a priestess who likes to run naked through the woods and a strangely taciturn handyman.
As in his earlier books, Corby manages to disseminate a wealth of information about real life in Athens and the cultural and legal rules governing its citizens. But The Marathon Conspiracy is never dull, thanks to the amusing bickering between Nicolaos and Diotima and the hilariously complicated situations Nicolaos keeps stumbling into. The escapades of the detective (and his pesky, intellectual little brother Socrates) will keep readers laughing, while the history lesson will leave them feeling a little bit smarter. --Jessica Howard, blogger at Quirky Bookworm