The Road to Ithaca

by Ben Pastor

Overview

The fifth in the Martin Bora WWII mystery series. In May 1941, Wehrmacht officer Bora is sent to Crete, recently occupied by the German army, and must investigate the brutal murder of a Red Cross representative befriended by SS-Chief Himmler. All the clues lead to a platoon of trigger-happy German paratroopers, but is this the truth?

Bora takes to the mountains of Crete to solve the case, navigating his way between local bandits and foreign resistance fighters. With echoes of Claus von Stauffenberg, Bora is torn between his duty as an officer and his integrity as a human being.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781908524805
Publisher:	Bitter Lemon Press, Ltd
Publication date:	03/14/2017
Series:	Martin Bora
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Ben Pastor: Ben Pastor, born in Italy, lived for thirty years in the United States, working as a university professor in Vermont, and is now back in her home country. She is the author of other novels including The Water Thief and The Fire Waker (set in Roman times and published to high acclaim in the US by St. Martin’s Press), and is considered one of the most talented writers in the field of historical fiction. In 2008 she won the prestigious Premio Zaragoza for best historical fiction. She writes in English.

Editorial Reviews

01/30/2017
Pastor’s solid fifth Martin Bora mystery (after 2015’s Tin Sky) takes the Wehrmacht investigator from Moscow, where he’s been stationed, to Crete in early June 1941, soon after the German occupation of the island and three weeks before Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union. Bora’s mission is to secure 60 bottles of choice Cretan wine on behalf of NKVD chief Lavrenti Beria. But once the detective arrives in Crete, he receives a much different assignment. A British POW has reported to the Wehrmacht War Crimes Bureau that, during the recent battle for Crete, a British NCO observed eight German paratroopers enter the home of a prominent Swiss national, where he soon heard gunfire. After the departure of the paratroopers, this witness discovered all the civilian occupants slain. While Bora isn’t as memorable a character as Bernie Gunther, Philip Kerr fans will still find this depiction of an honest German cop working under adverse wartime circumstances intriguing. Agent: Meryl Zegarek, Meryl Zegarek PR. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for the series:

“TIN SKY is the best crime novel of the month. Terror and suspicion on the Eastern Front. We hail a bold series set in the Second World War. This fine novel is packed with tense moments and moral ambiguity.’ Times

“In TIN SKY Pastor effectively melds a well-constructed whodunit with a grim portrayal of the Eastern front.” PW Starred Review

“A DARK SONG OF BLOOD is historical crime fiction at its best, vividly re-creating the atmosphere of a city occupied by an increasingly desperate army. ‘ Sunday Times

“The historical milieu of these books is grim, but Pastor’s character examinations are precise and engrossing.’ Kirkus

“The tone of LIAR MOON has a flu-like grimness, appropriate the 1943 setting. Pastor is excellent at providing details (silk stockings, movie magazines, cigarettes) that light up the setting.” Booklist

“Pastor succeeds at painting a memorable picture of Fascist Italy through the lens of ordinary police procedure carried out under extraordinary circumstances.”Publishers Weekly

“An impressive and intelligent novel.” The Times

“LUMEN’s plot is well crafted, her prose sharp… a disturbing mix of detection and reflection.”
Publisher’s Weekly

“And don’t miss LUMEN by Ben Pastor. An interesting, original and melancholy tale.” Literary Review



Praise for the series:

“TIN SKY is the best crime novel of the month. Terror and suspicion on the Eastern Front. We hail a bold series set in the Second World War. This fine novel is packed with tense moments and moral ambiguity.’ Times

“In TIN SKY Pastor effectively melds a well-constructed whodunit with a grim portrayal of the Eastern front.” PW Starred Review

“A DARK SONG OF BLOOD is historical crime fiction at its best, vividly re-creating the atmosphere of a city occupied by an increasingly desperate army. ‘ Sunday Times

“The historical milieu of these books is grim, but Pastor’s character examinations are precise and engrossing.’ Kirkus

“The tone of LIAR MOON has a flu-like grimness, appropriate the 1943 setting. Pastor is excellent at providing details (silk stockings, movie magazines, cigarettes) that light up the setting.” Booklist

“Pastor succeeds at painting a memorable picture of Fascist Italy through the lens of ordinary police procedure carried out under extraordinary circumstances.”Publishers Weekly

“An impressive and intelligent novel.” The Times

“LUMEN’s plot is well crafted, her prose sharp… a disturbing mix of detection and reflection.”
Publisher’s Weekly

“And don’t miss LUMEN by Ben Pastor. An interesting, original and melancholy tale.” Literary Review

From the Publisher