One Last Chance: A Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis Mystery

Siger’s fine 12th mystery featuring Chief Insp. Andreas Kaldis (after 2021’s A Deadly Twist) focuses on Andreas’s personal assistant, Maggie Sikestis, who returns to her island home of Ikaria after the death of her 104-year-old grandmother. Ikariots are famous for their longevity, but Maggie soon discovers that a rash of mysterious deaths of elderly islanders is connected to the suspicious activity of a Greek Orthodox priest, two dirty drug enforcement agents, and a Hong Kong pharmaceutical company also under investigation by Andreas’s right-hand man, Det. Yianni Kouros. Though Maggie’s amateur sleuthing brings a cozy element to the story, Siger does a good job of blending in the procedural threads pursued by Yianni and Andreas, and once again the scenery steals the show. Ikaria is the poorest of the Aegean islands and only one-tenth the size of Rhode Island, but its breathtaking beauty radiates from each page. Part travelogue, part cozy, part procedural, this entry will appeal to fans of Donna Leon and Louise Penny with its attractive characters and rich setting. (Apr.)