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{{infoboxsortinfobox1
|title=The Athenian Murders
|author=Jose Carlos Somoza
|buy=Maybe
|borrow=Yes
|format=Paperback
|pages=314
|publisher=Abacus
|date=January 17, 2002
|isbn=0349113866
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0349113866</amazonuk>
|amazonus=<amazonus>0349113866</amazonus>
|sort=Athenian Murders by Jose Carlos Somoza
|cover=0349113866
|aznuk=0349113866
|aznus=0349113866
}}
I did wonder if this book would be rather convoluted. It's a translation of a book written by a Cuban living in Spain and it's about a Translator working on a text about a murder mystery set in Athens at the time of Plato. There are two parallel stories; the original murder mystery and that of the Translator whose tale begins to bear an eerie similarity to the text being translated.
Far from being unnamed, the real translator of the book is Sonia Sotto, who has achieved the complex task of translating a Spanish text into English which evokes ancient Greece. It's a tribute to her that the book flows so well and is eminently readable.
It's a complex novel. It put me in mind of an onion. Each layer that's peeled off reveals another layer. There are stories within stories and then further themes within those stories. If you're looking for an easy read then this won't be the book for you. You might like to try Susanna Gregory's [[An Unholy Alliance]], Josephine Tey's [[The Daughter of Time]] or Alison Weir's [[The Princes in the Tower]]. They're all historical mysteries with a carefully-researched background. On the other hand, if this book does appeal to you then you might like to read Boris Akunin's [[Murder on the Leviathan]], or one of my particular favourites, Carlos Ruiz Zafon's [[Shadow of the Wind]]. We also liked [[The Marathon Conspiracy by Gary Corby]].
{{toptentext|list=Top Ten Books Not Originally Written In English}}
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