Death Comes By Amphora: A Mystery Novel of Ancient Athens

I chose to set my mysteries in ancient Athens in 461BC because it was an exciting time with lots of dramatic events. Democrats were taking over from rule by the rich and the surge of creativity in the arts that led to the Golden Age of Athens was beginning. Along with this went plenty of rivalry, anger, greed, fraud and political dirty tricks - fascinating. I found I needed three detectives to investigate in this complex society - young Lysanias, his elderly slave Sindron and his murdered uncle’s young widow Philia I live in Drogheda on the river Boyne in Ireland, a large historic town 30 miles north of Dublin with my wife Sheila. At the end of our street is a massive stone barbican or gatehouse, the only survivor of the medieval town walls. The most ancient of the many historic and pre-historic sites in nearby Boyne Valley is Newgrange, the oldest man-made structure in Europe, even older than the pyramids and well before the time of my novel.