Cartoon of the Day: English Villages

 

Cartoon of the Day: Thanksgiving Double Standard

My Not So Secret Love Affair: Guest Post by Jeffrey Siger

Thank you, Janet Rudolph, for inviting me to share with your Mystery Fanfare readers the essence of what’s driven me to set my fourteen-volume Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis series amid the beauty, history, and wiles of Greece. 

It isn’t fame, it isn’t fortune. It is an irrepressible desire on my part to express through my novels why I, a non-Greek by birth, am so intensely drawn to share with the world the majesty of Greece as if it were my homeland, and the spirit of the Greek people as if they are my family.

Anyone who knows me understands that my heart and soul are Greek—even though my tongue can’t quite make the language transition…so much so that as I’ve often said, and many can attest, whenever I try to speak Greek, my friends rush into English to save their mother tongue. Thankfully, my inability to voice the words, has not held me back from chronicling the wonders and beauty of Greece and the ways and resilience of its people.

Without all I’ve learned from Greeks and fellow grecophiles I never would have discovered the true character of my protagonist, Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis, nor that of his vibrant supporting cast of good guys, bad guys, rich folk and poor, high society and not.

I owe sincere thanks to many for their candid contributions to the success of my series. They and their tales of customs, secrets, and intrigues inspired me in one way or another to reach this point in my career.

By now I think it’s obvious how much I appreciate the support Greeks have shown my novels, and the reciprocal obligation I feel to fairly present Greece and its resilient, creative, hardworking people to the world. Indeed, despite the many accolades my work has received, the greatest honor I ever received was when The New York Times Book Review selected me as Greece’s thriller-writer of record.

I say that because my overall goal as a writer has always been the same.  To explore issues confronting modern day Greece in a way that touches upon its ancient roots. And to do so honestly and with love for the land and its people.

The fourteen books I’ve written in my Kaldis series are not a record, but in retrospect they certainly validate the depth of desire that lingered within me for at least half a century. It was with me when as a child I found myself making up stories every night as I fell off to sleep.

And it was there with me in high school when as a freshman I thought I could make it as a writer … until I realized how unlikely I was to earn a living as a writer––leading me to become a lawyer.

That decision to practice law played a huge, unexpected role in my emergence as a creative writer. And by that I don’t mean that my many years as a lawyer taught me to be creative with the facts.  Rather, those years and experiences developed my style, my voice, taught me how to write clearly, concisely and convincingly – and to do so quickly.

The practice of law also taught me how to graciously accept and channel criticism, a vital skill for one to develop if as a writer you wish to survive critical analyses of your work by your editors, critics and reviewers.

Having said all that, I never imagined I’d find something that’s brought as much fun and joy to my life as does the time I spend with the Chief Inspector and his crew seeking to further entertain all the wonderful friends my wife Barbara and I have made through the writing life. 

I’ve come to accept that whatever honors have come my way do so in large measure because of one person…my protagonist Andreas Kaldis.  He and I have been through fourteen adventures together, all the while battling with each other over who gets to write them. It’s Andreas who insists on writing about life on the edge of societal change, then drags me into exploring family dynamics, ancient practices, political intrigues, the military, Orthodoxy, refugees, corruption, wild nightlife, vendettas, the business of bomba, preservationists versus developers, the impact of Artificial Intelligence, and on and on. 

The one thing we agree upon is no matter what the story line, the setting for each novel is always presented in keeping with the series’ longstanding international reputation for sharing Greece’s breathtaking beauty and unique lifestyles with the reader. 

So, here I am, more than 20 years into my writing gig, celebrating the series that’s brought plaudits for my work from so many I deeply respect in the mystery writing world.  All of that truly has me feeling blessed that the dream of the young boy I once was to someday become a writer came true.

But where to now, one might ask. Allow me to assure you that this is not a retirement speech…though with the latest title being NOT DEAD YET, it’s understandable how one might get that impression.  

Not only am I working on Kaldis #15, but I have a new book in an entirely different series coming out on February 3, 2026 ––A Study in Secrets, the debut novel in my The Redacted Man series. Plus, the folks with an option on TV/film rights to my Kaldis series say they’re close to making it all come together.
And did I mention that my entire Kaldis backlist, fitted with brand new B-2 format covers has just been re-released by my publisher Severn House and is available here:  https://jeffreysiger.com/books/

In other words, I’m still happily strolling along the road that’s led me from the Pittsburgh of my roots to a Manhattan legal career, and onto an ever-evolving love affair with Greece. 

Yiasas, y’all.

––Jeff

***

Jeffrey Siger fled his position as a name partner in his own NYC law firm to write Greece-based mystery thrillers on Mykonos. The New York Times picked him as Greece’s thriller novelist of record, Reader’s Digest Select Editions described him as among its “new favorite authors,” and the Greek National Tourism Organization recently honored him as “one of our country’s shining ambassadors to the world.” He’s received Lefty and Barry “Best Novel” nominations for his fourteen-book Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis series, been Chair of Bouchercon, and served as an adjunct college professor teaching mystery writing.  www.jeffreysiger.com
 
 

Library Poster of the Day: Book Mark

 I love these WPA Library posters!

TRISS STEIN: R.I.P.

Sad news: Mystery author Triss Stein passed away yesterday. R.I.P., Triss. You will be missed.

She was the author of the Erica Donato mysteries set in Brooklyn.

Brooklyn Bones (2013) 

Brooklyn Graves (2014) 

Brooklyn Secrets (2015) 

Brooklyn Wars (2017) 

Brooklyn Legacies (2019)

She was also the author of the Kay Engels mystery Murder at the Class Reunion (1993)

Mystery Readers Journal was honored to have an author essay from Triss for the New York City Mysteries I issue of Mystery Readers Journal (32:1) Spring 2016. 

I'm reprinting the essay here:

Tres Brooklyn by Triss Stein

New York, New York. So nice they named it twice. I think I always felt that way. It wasn’t that I didn’t like my hometown, a small city in northernmost upstate New York, near the beautiful Thousand Islands and a real foreign border (exotic Canada). However, it was a place where nearby Syracuse represented quite as much excitement as most people wanted. I didn’t know anyone else who thought his or her future was in the big city. Or any big city. 
 
When I was a child, right after the dinosaurs, it was still perfectly all right for a little girl to say, “I want to be a wife and mother when I grow up.” Not me. I wanted to be Doris Day, a career girl with a cute apartment in New York. 
 
The surprise is that I did become a New Yorker, though it was almost by accident. I came from Boston for graduate school, owed New York state two years for a fellowship, and then I was going back to Boston. But I found a job. Fell in love. Had a family. Bought a house in Brooklyn that shouted old New York. I loved the old, I loved New York.
 
The moment I knew I was never leaving was when I was on the subway and two subway preachers were trying to out sing each other, shouting hymns across the aisle.
 
My first job was working as a children’s librarian in the Brooklyn Public Library system. I worked in nine different neighborhoods, and I was fascinated to see how different they were.  Our patrons did not say they were from “New York”, or even “Brooklyn,” but “Mill Basin.” Or “Van Dyke Houses.” Or “Cypress Hills.” Many of them only ventured into Manhattan once a year. In other words, it was a lot more like small towns than most of them knew.
 
The history fascinated me too. How can you not love a place that sent a parade of elephants to prove the safety of that soon-to-be-famous, brand new bridge? 
 
I didn’t know it then, but I was getting ready to write a mystery series about Brooklyn. Acting like a librarian, I was filing all those memories and oddball facts away for when I needed them. 
 
I have lived in Brooklyn now for most of my adult life. We started out in a neighborhood that was still touch and go. The playground was dangerous late at night and we had two children’s car seats stolen from our parked car. It is called Park Slope and it has evolved into the quintessential gentrified, quaint, very chic urban neighborhood. It is tres Brooklyn, as they now say even in Paris. Could there be lots of tension around these changes? That long downhill slide and the controversial revival? And does tension create plot? How about a body discovered in a house undergoing renovation? Houses here are always undergoing renovation. That became Brooklyn Bones.
 
The second series book, Brooklyn Graves, is about a beautiful, historic, art-filled cemetery and a lost Tiffany window, but also about a deteriorating neighborhood saved by a flood of Russian immigrants. Saved? Or was it ruined? It all depends on who you ask.
 
Brooklyn Secrets, released in December, 2015, is about Brownsville, a decidedly unrenovated neighborhood where young people now struggle with many of the same pressures as young people did generations ago when it was the breeding ground of the notorious branch of the mob called Murder Inc.
 
I know I will never run out of Brooklyn stories to tell. The next one will be about the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which ran 24/7 during World War 11, employed 70,000 people including women, built the battleship Missouri and then died a slow, painful death. After that? I have few ideas cooking.
 
I haven’t yet worked out how to write about the flock of bright green tropical parrots that live on the Brooklyn College campus, or the house where Winston Churchill’s mother was born – no one is sure exactly which house it was – but they may yet find their way into a story. 
 
And those elephants on the Brooklyn Bridge?  I don’t know where they came from – was the circus in town? – but maybe I should find out. 
 
 
 

MIDSOMER MURDERS, Series 25, Premiere

Midsomer Murders, Series 25 premieres Monday, December 8th on Acorn TV.

From a mudlarking murder to a bowling club killing and a grammar school homicide, DCI Barnaby (Neil Dudgeon) and DS Winter (Nick Hendrix) solve perplexing crimes whilst also exploring the quirks of their delightfully picturesque yet deadly shire. will feature four new, feature-length episodes 

And, yes, Midsomer Murders has been renewed for a 26th Season. The new season will feature four new cases and will continue to star Neil Dudgeon as DCI Barnaby.