THE DANCE OF DIMITRIOS



The Dance of Dimitrios is a mystery novel that mixes some of the horrors of illegal immigration with everyday events. DCI Lambert, who works for Europol - the European equivalent of the FBI - is sent to Greece in order to solve a cold case. Detective Chief Inspector Mike Lambert knows about people trafficking and the problems it causes governments throughout the world. Greece is the gateway into Europe for countless Middle-Eastern migrants, political refugees and terrorists. The story involves the discovery of a woman's body found floating in the River Ardas in Northern Greece. Believed to be of Middle-Eastern origin, she is buried in a communal grave along with other Islamic victims of drowning and promptly forgotten. When it is later revealed that she is actually an Englishwoman called Marjory Braithwaite - who has been living for some years in Greece - the British government turns to Europol for help. Realising that this probably means murder, DCI Lambert is dispatched to Greece.


THE DANCE OD DIMITRIOS - by Patrick Brigham

Born in Berkshire England to an old Reading family, having attended an English Public School and a stint at college, the author Patrick Brigham went into real estate. After the economic crash of 1989 he licked his wounds, wrote two books and in 1993 decided to finally abandon London, the UK's casino economy and he moved to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. As the Editor in Chief of the first English Language news magazine in Sofia - between 1995 and 2000 - and as a journalist, he witnessed the political changes in this once hard core communist country and personally knew most of the political players, including the old Communist Dictator Todor Zhivkov and his successors, Zhelev and Stoyanov.

The natural home of political intrigue, Bolshevism and the conspiracy theory, Bulgaria proved to be quite a challenge, but for many of its citizens the transition was also very painful. Despite this, Patrick Brigham personally managed to survive these political changes and now lives peacefully in Northern Greece, writing mystery novels. A writer for many years, he has recently written four good crime fiction books including, Herodotus – The Gnome of Sofia, Judas Goat – The Kennet Narrow Boat Mystery, Abduction – An Angel over Rimini, and The Dance of Dimitrios. He has also published a play called Judicial Review.

Confirming that the truth is very often stranger than fiction, Eastern Europe has proved to be Patrick Brigham’s inspiration for writing good mystery books. Much of his writing has been influenced by 20 years spent in the Balkans and the plethora of characters in his writing, are redolent of many past communist political intrigues in Bulgaria. But he also goes back to his English roots in his play, which is about money, greed and redemption

GOODREADS REVIEWS

Julie

Set in Northern Greece, an area mostly undiscovered by tourists, this mystery thriller will have you gripped from the start. There are several books featuring DCI Mike Lambert who is an intriguing character. Inevitably there is a bit of backfilling to let the reader know about some of his previous cases which will hopefully whet your appetite for the other books in the series. Like a gently meandering river, the story starts off slowly at first, gradually building up to involve police forces in England, Greece, Bulgaria until it reaches its peak, sucking in everyone in its way. There are lots of red herrings and guesses as to who killed Marjory Braithwaite as well as wonderful descriptions of this unspoilt area. Well worth a read!

Ian Lahey

The drowned corpse of a woman in a small Greek village, initially mistaken for an illegal immigrant reveals itself to be that of Marjory Braithwaite, writer, journalist and, apparently much more.
Investigations in her past life carry DCI Lambert into a network of leads branching across Europe and the Middle East, involving surprising - and dangerous - implications with Al-Quaeda.

A recommended read for the lovers of the police procedural seasoned with a touch of good ol' spy story. Patrick's loose prose proves to be an enjoyable read as the author agilely escalates to the final climax. Five stars.

Marika Charalambous

Another great addition to the DCI Michael Lambert series, this books takes us to Greece with all its beauty and conflicts that are part of it right now. A case of mistaken identity, police corruption within the plain old local police force, make the case be shifted for a whole year, until it turns out that the women found in the river was indeed an English citizen, which brings Michael Lambert, who now works for the Europol (the European FBI) to the case.

Babus Ahmed

When a body of a woman is found in the river, local Greek police file it as the death of a Muslim refugee. No real investigation takes place as the body is considered of no consequence until it is suspected the body is of British National Marjorie Braithwaite. DCI Lambert working for Europol is despatched to investigate. He has been furnished with information about Marjorie Braithwaite that complicate the case further. Teaming up with an old colleague in Greece, Elektra Boulos, Lambert has his work cut out unravelling who Marjorie Braithwaite was in life and who could have wanted to and had opportunity to kill her.

This grown-up pan-European crime thriller laced with espionage and intrigue was compulsive reading with an edge of reality that set the story on fire. Whilst building out picture of the victim, we are presented with in-depth characterizations of both Lambert and Boulos, who are even at odds in this complex thriller whilst they try to make sense of the case they inherited. Lambert is very much his own man and a black sheep who picks his way through cases mostly singlehanded, as in his business it is default to trust no one. I felt no disadvantage from not having read any of the previous books in the DCI Lambert series.

There are suspects with motives ranging from getting bad book reviews to international espionage and human trafficking. If you like your police procedural crime thriller well written with that additional factor of plausibility and a huge dose of double dealing then you do not want to miss reading this one

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