Sea, save me

A director is found brutally murdered in the basement of the Plakas Theatre. Inspector Haris Kokkinos and his colleagues are called upon to solve a case that is expected to capture the public’s imagination. They soon realise that they will need to look for the motives behind the murder in the director’s dark past, unravelling a web of shared secrets, cover-ups and violence at the heart of modern-day Athens. At the same time, the son of the forty-five-year-old police inspector is arrested on charges that will force him to delve into his own family history. The pressure of time and sealed lips will prove that things are never simple for those who found themselves in the back seat. In a society where everyone is guilty, some will pay the price, including Haris Kokkinos. The interrogations will paint a fresco of the inhabitants of Athens, who star in a story that would not exist were it not for the city, and nothing will remain in the shadows beneath its brilliant sun. Read the text by Eftychia Giannaki, who describes her own relationship with writing and shares her view on the influence of the evolution of Western society on the flourishing of crime fiction.

A young woman from Ghana is found murdered in a pool of blood in Athens’ largest shopping centre. Inspector Haris Kokkinos and his team are called upon to unravel a case that winds around them like a tangled web, whilst the clock is ticking. The maelstrom in which the inspector finds himself, his past, and his relationship with his imprisoned son will force him to walk a tightrope in order to shed light on the case and, ultimately, on himself. In a society that fails to protect the weak, no one can be considered innocent. The Halcyon Days is the second part of the Athens Trilogy, starring Inspector Haris Kokkinos.

A pregnant woman, a former model, is brutally murdered in her detached house in Kavouri. Inspector Haris Kokkinos and his team take on the task of solving a crime that brings them face to face with dashed expectations, doping rings in sport and a cycle of violence that begins in Serbia in 1995 and ends in Athens in 2014. At the same time, the son of the forty-five-year-old police inspector stands trial on charges that test his resilience, as he seeks to come to terms with his own responsibility for the mistakes of the past. In this case, everyone is a suspect, and the interrogations bring to light a city that is turning into a closed room. The question that arises is how far you can go when you have nothing left to lose. When you realise that hope is not the last thing to die. The story is the third part of the Athens Trilogy and would not exist were it not for the city, its light and its darkness. ‘Yannaki’s literary power is evident in her insight into people’s psychology... The Halcyon Days is one of the best books written about the crisis.’ Vasilis Vasilikos, Nea Selida newspaper

Pitsi Pitsou, the island of the Pitsibouins, is the safest, but also the most mysterious island in the world. Today at school, the programme includes a swim in Lake Lambiko. When the Pitsibouins arrive there, they are faced with a big surprise. The lake is completely dry! Little Blue, the island’s only detective, and his friends will have to hurry if they want to solve their first mystery.

Pitsi Pitsou, the island of the Pitsibouins, is the safest, yet also the most mysterious island in the world. Little Blue, the island’s only detective, wakes up one morning to discover that Macaroni and Mysterious Jentu have vanished. The double disappearance has thrown the whole island into turmoil and Blue, with the help of Adelie, takes on the case that will lead them on a new adventure full of surprises, mysterious messages and unexpected twists! Soon the Pitsibouinias will realise that nothing in this story is a coincidence and that solving the mystery requires skills they never imagined they possessed.

Paros. The Cyclades. Athens. Zurich. Summer 2018. A woman is found dead on her boat at the southern tip of Paros. Inspector Haris Kokkinos will become embroiled in a case that will force him to delve into the island’s small community, its dark past, strange souvenirs and antiquities trafficking rings, families that constitute the perfect criminal laboratory, and ultimately into his own depths, where light intertwines with darkness. The Small God’s Disease, the new crime novel by Eftychia Giannaki, marks her return to the dark and malleable universe of Inspector Haris Kokkinos, with the first part of a new series of crime novels under the general title The Abyss Trilogy. ‘He’s a little god. Do you know who they call a little god?’ “I haven’t a clue.” “It doesn’t take much imagination.” “I don’t get that sort of thing. My mind is made only for numbers.” “It’s the head of Eros. Eros is called a little god.”

Pitsipitsou, the island of the Pitsibouins, is the safest, yet also the most mysterious island in the world. The night before the Great Pits Party, Little Blue is woken by a loud noise. Broken windows and mysterious notes on coconuts will lead him on a night-time adventure. Soon, the Pitsibouins will realise that, to solve the mystery, they need to see the world through different eyes. A wonderful story that follows on from the first two exciting books in the series: Mystery at Lake Lampiko & Disappearance at Pitsi Pitsou.

Athens. Hydra. June 2020. A struggling journalist is found dead in the swimming pool of a penthouse in Kolonaki, in the flat of her ex-husband, a distinguished painter, who remains missing. On her chest is a tattoo of a huge seahorse. The media and public opinion are in uproar, with the possible scenarios of murder remaining open until the very end. The tangled web of this case, unfolding between Hydra and Athens, draws Inspector Haris Kokkinos and his team into a case that confronts them with domestic violence, art rings, the boundaries of creativity and the tight-lipped nature of a small community, whether on an island or in the heart of a metropolis. This book is the second part of the ‘Trilogy of the Abyss’, a malleable universe, an abyss that swallows everything except our stories, true in their falsehood and false in their truth, thinking we have grasped how the game is played and realising each time that it was not just that, that in the hippocampus’s lair none of us is innocent. This would make a good plot for a crime novel, were it not for the fact that I received an email from the victim on the eve of his murder, and were I not aware that seahorses swim against the current until their hearts break. E.G.