Markaris, Petros 1937-

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MARKARIS, Petros 1937-

PERSONAL: Born 1937, in Istanbul, Turkey.

ADDRESSES: Home—Athens, Greece. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Grove Press, 841 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.

CAREER: Playwright and writer. Has also translated the works of many German dramatists, including Brecht and Goethe.

WRITINGS:

Ho Brecht kai ho dialektikos logos, Ekdoseis Ithakē (Athens, Greece), 1982.

Amyna zōnēs: astynomiko mythistorēma, Ekdoseis Gavriēlidēs (Athens, Greece), 1998.

Ho Tse autoktonēse, Ekdoseis Gavriēlidēs (Athens, Greece), 2003.

Deadline in Athens: An Inspector Costas Haritos Mystery, translated from the Greek by David Connolly, Grove Press (New York, NY) 2004, published in England as The Late Night News, Harvill Press (London, England), 2004.

Moth (fiction), Harvill Press, 2006.

Also author of play The Tale of Ali Retzo. Author of other novels, published in Greece.

SIDELIGHTS: Petros Markaris made his literary debut in Greece in 1965 and began having his detective fiction published in the United States in 2004. Writing in London's Independent, Boyd Tonkin noted that Markaris was "already distinguished in Greece for his work in film and theatre before he launched a series of richly plotted, spankingly paced and socially observant noir novels in the mid-1990s."

In his English debut, Deadline in Athens: An Inspector Costas Haritos Mystery, Markaris follows Inspector Haritos of the Athens CID as he investigates the murder of two Albanians that has been reported about on Greek television by Yanna Karayoryi. When Karayoryi is subsequently impaled on a television set, Haritos steps up the investigation while the television station demands exclusive access to the entire inquiry. Along the way, the tough Greek detective—who used to be a prison guard under the fascist government—must try to deal with politics and corruption, while battling with his feisty wife, Adriani.

A Kirkus Reviews contributor commented that "the big plus is the warts-and-all portrait of contemporary Athens." Tonkin noted of the novel, published in England as The Late Night News: "Far from being a time-less citadel of culture, his Athens mutates with every wave of incomers and every twist on the political dial." Frank Sennett, writing in Booklist, did not like the novel's various climaxes but noted that "the relationship [between Haritos and his wife] remains refreshingly real." Library Journal contributor Rex E. Klett praised the novel's "fine translation, surprising plot, and unusual setting," adding that the book "comes strongly recommended."