Leta Serafim
Published Works
The Nameless Dead
(Greek Islands Mystery, Book 5)
A young woman is found dead in an abandoned migrant camp on the Greek island of Chios. Seeking to solve the case, Inspector Patronas stumbles across an evil conspiracy far worse than anything he could ever have imagined. His search for the killer leads him first into the labyrinth of Vial, an overcrowded migrant camp, then onto Turkey. The investigation proves to be one of the most challenging of his career as he seeks to understand the migrants and the world they live in and catch the man responsible. When a second Syrian woman is killed, Patronas sends one of his associates into the camp undercover, desperate for information. However, an unspeakable tragedy occurs when she is inadvertently exposed as a police officer.
Then one night at the harbor, he boards a Russian trawler and finds crucial evidence in its hold, revealing the scope of what he is up against—and forcing him to face an evil beyond his comprehension.
This exciting brand-new release in the popular Greek Islands Mystery series is not to be missed.
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An Evil Most Men Welcome
(Greek Islands Mystery, Book 4)
“Marriage is an evil most men welcome,” the ancient Greek philosopher, Menander, observed; and so an American woman discovers to her dismay after marrying a man she met on a beach in Greece one summer.
In this gripping fourth title in the Greek Islands Inspector Patronas series, a local man is found murdered in a cave on the Greek island of Spetses. Initially, the police suspect he was murdered by his foreign wife, a desperately unhappy American woman named Hope Erikson. However, nothing is as it seems -- not the victim, nor his family, and especially not the dark secret they have all sought to conceal.
Publisher's Weekly noted that “Serafim’s firm grip on contemporary Greek culture enriches her characterization and lends veracity. Readers will hope to return to the islands soon."
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From the Devil's Farm
(Greek Islands Mystery, Book 3)
A Greek American tourist, Lydia Pappas, stumbles upon a child’s body -- bled dry -- in the ruins of an ancient temple, well hidden on the top of a cliff.
Greece’s financial crisis has reduced the police force on Sifnos to one officer, Petros Nikolaidis, so Patronas has been summoned from his home base of Chios to help investigate the case. Accompanying him are his colleagues, Giorgos Tembelos and Evangelos Demos, as well as Papa Michalis, an ancient Orthodox priest with a vast knowledge of detective fiction and an uncanny ability to ferret out the truth. Though eccentric and often irritating, Michalis has been an asset to Patronas over the years in a land where homicide was, until recently, a rare occurrence. But Greece is changing daily, with a tide of migrants straining the country’s already diminished resources and occasionally bringing out the worst in her people.
The child appears to have been sacrificed according to the rules of a pagan religious ritual. Is someone on Sifnos reviving the old ways?
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When the Devil's Idle
(Greek Islands Mystery, Book 2)
In the Book of Revelation, written by St. John on the Greek island of Patmos, it was said a pale horse would appear whose rider was death, others would cry out for vengeance, and the stars of heaven would fall to the earth.
In When the Devil's Idle, death does indeed come to Patmos when a German tourist is found murdered in the garden of one of the island’s fabled estates. Yiannis Patronas, Chief Officer of the Chios police, is called in to investigate. He summons his top detective, Giorgos Tembelos, and his friend and amateur sleuth, Papa Michalis, to assist him.
What the policemen discover will disturb them long after the conclusion of the case. Only six people were at the house at the time of the murder—the gardener and housekeeper, the victim’s son and his wife and their two children, a boy of seven and a teenage girl of sixteen. All appear to be innocent. But access to the isolated estate is severely restricted. Surrounded by high walls, it has only one entrance: a metal gate that was bolted at the time of the crime. Patronas can only conclude that one of the six is a killer. He continues to probe, uncovering the family’s many secrets. Some are very old, others more recent. All are horrifying.
But which of these secrets led to murder?
Don't miss the book RT Magazine raves “expertly creates the beauty of Greece. However, the real draws of this book are the fully developed, complex characters, and the facts on Greek culture and history. Book two in the Greek Islands Mystery series is sure to satisfy.”
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The Devil Takes Half
(Greek Islands Mystery, Book 1)
At an archeological dig on the idyllic Greek Island of Chios, a severed hand is found lying in a blood-filled trench. Could it belong to Eleni Argentis, a beautiful archeologist who is also the wealthy daughter of a local ship owner? She and her young assistant, Petros, are both missing.
The chief officer of the local police force, Yiannis Patronas, suspects that Eleni and Petros happened upon something of real value. However, his search turns up nothing but handfuls of broken clay -- and then another body.
Although Patronas has little experience with homicide, he is determined to conquer the evil that threatens this formerly peaceful island.
The first book in the Greek Islands Mystery series, Library Journal praised The Devil Takes Half by noting that “Serafim’s dense prose is perfect for lovers of literary and scholarly mysteries. Her plotting is methodical and traditional, with subtle nods to Sherlock Holmes, Greek mythology, and historical events.”
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To Look on Death No More
In autumn of 1943, a lone allied soldier parachutes into Greece. His stated goal: to build an airstrip for the British. Brendon O’Malley is an Irishman, and he soon discovers that fighting the Nazis is not the same as embracing the British, who have seriously misled him about his mission.
Wounded during the drop, O'Malley has a surprise encounter with Danae, a seventeen-year-old girl, who with her little brother Stefanos manages to hold him captive -- first in a cave, and later in the cellar of their home in Kalavryta. A wary if unlikely friendship develops between the three, and over time O’Malley’s feelings for Danae gradually deepen into love as he slowly earns her trust, and the trust of her family, and begins to feel sympathy and admiration for the Greek soldiers fighting the Nazis, the antartes.
In the end, O'Malley's honesty, strength, and courage impress them and finally win the day. But disaster still lies just ahead, as the Nazis, already a palpable presence in their lives, stage a savage attack on Kalavryta. Yet even in the midst of war and battle, the love of this Irishman for his indomitable Greek muse cannot be extinguished.
The Historical Novel Society called To Look on Death No More “A painful but engrossing story…. What saves the novel from a feeling of complete despair is O’Malley’s love for Danae and his growing love of her country. This aspect of the war was unknown to me before this book. It’s as important as the Blitz and the occupation of Paris, and Serafim makes me want to learn more.”
The Midwest Book Review called it “an impressively crafted read from beginning to end" and noted that "it establishes author Leta Serafim as an exceptionally gifted novelist. Very highly recommended for community library General Fiction collections.”
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Molly Saw a Bear
Sometimes even if you're very shy and afraid to talk, you have to speak up in order to help and protect someone else. A little girl named Molly discovers this when a bear wanders onto the playground at her school one day.
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