Death ex Machina
Gary Corby
ISBN: 9781616955199
Published: May, 2015
Pricing
Hardcover $26.95
Description
Athens, 459 BC: It’s the time of the Great Dionysia, the largest arts festival of the ancient world, held each year in honor of Dionysos, the god of wine. But there’s a problem: A ghost is haunting Athens’s grand theater. Nicolaos and the priestess Diotima, his clever partner in sleuthing (and now in matrimony), are hired to exorcis...
Athens, 459 BC: It’s the time of the Great Dionysia, the largest arts festival of the ancient world, held each year in honor of Dionysos, the god of wine. But there’s a problem: A ghost is haunting Athens’s grand theater. Nicolaos and the priestess Diotima, his clever partner in sleuthing (and now in matrimony), are hired to exorcise the ghost, but secretly suspect that a human saboteur is operating behind the scenes.
Then one of the actors is found hanged from the machine used to carry actors through the air when they play the part of gods. It’s quite a theatrical murder. As Nico and Diotima dig into the actor’s past, they discover enough suspects to fill a theater. As the festival approaches and pressure mounts on all sides, can they hunt down the killer in time? Or will they simply have to hope for a deus ex machina?
Media
“Those who like their historicals with a touch of humor will welcome Australian author Corby ... Corby displays a real gift for pacing and plotting.”
─Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
“Corby serves up a bubbly cocktail of clear history, contemporary wit, and heart-stopping action.”
—Booklist, STARRED Review
“Corby again manages to effortlessly integrate laugh-out-loud humor into a fairly clued puzzle. ”
–Publishers Weekly, starred review on Death Ex Machina
“This fifth mystery in the series moves from shock to shock, each one amplified by the fact that every prank and accident is painted on the scenery wall onstage almost immediately afterward. Corby is adept at delineating ancient Greece without sounding professorial. This works on every level. ”
—Booklist, Starred Review on Death ex Machina
“DEATH EX MACHINA is fresh and engaging, a delightful, often humorous, and first class novel. ”
—OverMyDeadBody.com
“Peppered with fascinating details about theater history and the Hellenic origins of theatrical history and the Hellenic origins of theatrical lore. Corby’s sixth series outing will please fans of mysteries set in ancient Greece, especially those written by Anna Apostolou and Marilyn Todd. ”
–Library Journal on Death ex Machina
“Corby knows how to create a page-turning mystery, and he certainly knows how to infuse his encyclopedic knowledge of ancient Greece seamlessly into his story. ”
—Kittling Books on Death ex Machina
“Death Ex Machina is an entertaining entry in this historical series. The characters are nicely developed, and Nicolaos and Diotma are engaging as a couple. There is a lot of history here, much of it seamlessly introduced into the story and supportive of the time and place.”