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WORK TITLE: Blood & Gold
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
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COUNTRY: Greece
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RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Male.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and novelist. Formerly worked as a teacher.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Leo Kanaris is a former teacher turned crime novelist. As noted by Kanaris in an article for the Crime Time website, presented by Barry Foreshaw, Kanaris had to spend some time in Athens, Greece, between 2009 and 2012. While in Athens, Kanaris followed the economic crisis that resulted in drastic reductions in social services and failing businesses. In addition, he saw the visible representations on the streets of hunger and unemployment, all while the elite of Greek society continued to flaunt their luxurious lifestyles. According to Kanaris, these were the people who caused the debt crisis, while the innocent were paying the price. “It all got on top of me,” stated Kanaris in the Crime Time website article, adding: “I needed to vent my anger. I decided to write a crime novel exposing the cruelties and contradictions of our society.”
Codename Xenophon
Kanaris’s debut, Codename Xenophon, introduces readers to the Greek private investigator George Zafiris. A thoughtful loner, Zafiris finds himself trying to solve a series of crimes that the Greek police seem to have no interest in solving. Zafiris barely makes enough to get by, living from case to case. He is also still suffering from the repercussions of his wife’s infidelity. After a Greek professor is shot dead just prior to giving a lecture on the “dark side” of ancient Greece, Zafiris soon finds himself trying to find out why anyone would want to kill the professor. His efforts are hindered by a corrupt police force and government. As time passes, Zafiris uncovers a slew of crimes, from murder to the disastrous effects of policies set down by an uncaring government bureaucracy.
In the Crime Time website article, Kanaris noted that one difficulty in writing the novel was coming up with Greek names that would be easy for foreigners to pronounce. He went on to point out in the article that another “difficulty was spending time buried deep in the ugliest aspects of human life: violence, dishonesty, greed, hatred.” Daily Mail Online contributor Barry Turner noted the “vivid characterisation and a plot that thickens without obscuring the essential threads.” A Publishers Weekly contributor remarked: “Kanaris’s impressive debut … effectively evokes Greece’s noble antiquity while portraying its current financial crisis.”
Blood & Gold
Greek detective George Zafiris returns in Blood & Gold. This time Zafiris is investigating the supposedly accidental death of Mario Filiotis, the mayor of the island of Astypalea. The police report states that Filiotis died when he lost control of his bicycle and was subsequently hit by a truck. Zafiris was a good friend of the mayor and decides to look into the death. He quickly finds that the police are hiding evidence, from the bicycle itself to the file concerning the truck driver. Meanwhile, during the mayor’s burial, the coffin is accidentally dropped and opens to reveal that it does not contain the mayor’s body but rather a cache of archeological treasures. Garnering potential people to talk to from Filiotis’s appointment book, Zafiris, aided by the inexperienced Haris Pezas, begins a series of interviews.
Meanwhile, Zafiris takes on another case to locate a woman’s missing sister, the violinist Keti Kenteri. It turns out that Kenteri is dead due to a fall from a cliff. Her grieving husband goes off to a monastery, leaving Zafiris to wonder whether or not he is a killer. Joining in on the investigation with Zafiris and Pezas is the head of the Athens Police violent crimes unit. They soon discover a convoluted series of crimes from the illegal export of antiquities to prostitutes working as maids, all guided by Georgian-Russian crime figures. “Kanaris depicts a troubled Greece with compassion and precisely observed social commentary,” wrote a Publishers Weekly contributor. A BookBlast website contributor noted that both this novel and Kanaris’s debut novel “are perfect examples of how well-crafted detective fiction from another culture opens windows onto a brave new world, and shows that there are more similarities than differences between us all as we get on with the business of living in failing Western societies.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, April 27, 2015, review of Codename Xenophon, p. 54; June 12, 2017, review of Blood & Gold, p. 43.
ONLINE
BookBlast, https://bookblast.com/ (April 27, 2018), review of Blood & Gold.
Crime Time, http://www.crimetime.co.uk/ (April 17, 2014), Barry Foresaw, “Leo Kanaris—Writing Codename Xenophon.
Daily Mail (London, England), http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ (May 7, 2015), Barry Turner, “Classic Crime,” review of Codename Xenophon.
Leo Kanaris
Leo Kanaris was a teacher for many years. He now writes full time and lives in southern Greece.
He is the author of two novels featuring the private investigator George Zafiris: Codename Xenophon and Blood & Gold
He is currently working on his third George Zafiris novel, Dangerous Days.
Leo Kanaris – Writing Codename Xenophon
Contributor: Barry Forshaw
Apr 17, 2014
Between 2009 and 2012 I had to spend a lot of time, for family reasons, in Athens. The city has a crazed petrol-head energy about it that can be fun, but behind the scenes there’s pain. There always has been. In those years the economic crisis was starting to bite, into people’s hearts as well as pockets. Everything, present and future, seemed blighted. Cuts in salaries and social services, businesses dying, hunger and unemployment visible on the streets… Meanwhile, in classic third-world style, an elite of politicians, bankers and entrepreneurs continued to explore the frontiers of luxury without shame, and with their customary sense of entitlement. The people who created the debt crisis were making innocent people pay.
It all got on top of me. I needed to vent my anger. I decided to write a crime novel exposing the cruelties and contradictions of our society.
I chose as victim a person who represents the flower of Greek life: a fearless, generous and open-minded man, who is shot just minutes before he is due to give a lecture on the ‘dark side’ of ancient Greece – a taboo subject even today. The hero of the book, private investigator George Zafiris, struggles to find out why anyone would want to kill him. As the days go by he uncovers worse crimes – some quick, like a shooting, others slow, like the gradual, grinding despair brought on by the heartless state bureaucracy.
The difficulties of writing this novel? Two things stand out. One you might call the ‘El Greco’ problem: finding Greek names that foreign readers won’t struggle to pronounce, give up on, and quickly forget. (El Greco’s real name, remembered only by his fellow Greeks, was Domenicos Theotocopoulos.) An English TV commentator once complained that just the back four of a Greek football team had forty-seven syllables between them. I didn’t want that said about my book. So I had to find short, memorable names for my characters. I filled pages of notes trying them out.
A more serious difficulty was spending time buried deep in the ugliest aspects of human life: violence, dishonesty, greed, hatred. And then describing all the physical consequences, the blood, filth and chaos. Many days I stood up from my desk feeling I had wrestled with the devil.
One consolation is to be found in those moments of narrative truce when the hero stops work and enjoys a swim, a meal, or a night of love. I was inspired, in this and much else, by Jean-Claude Izzo’s whisky-soaked Marseilles trilogy. Izzo is credited with inventing ‘Mediterranean noir’. It’s a great genre – highly coloured, tragic and sensuous – and it’s one I feel very much at home in.
Codename Xenophon is published in April 2014 by Dedalus, £9.99. There’s a short film about the book on the Dedalus website: www.dedalusbooks.com
Blood & Gold
Publishers Weekly.
264.24 (June 12, 2017): p43.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Blood & Gold
Leo Kanaris. Dedalus, $15.99 trade paper (332p) ISBN 978-1-910213-10-0
In Kanaris's assured sequel to 2015's Codename Xenophon, PI George Zafiris looks into the suspicious
death of Mario Filiotis, the mayor of the island of Astypalea. According to the police report, Filiotis was
riding a bicycle when he lost his balance and was hit by a truck. Zafiris, who was a friend of the deceased
mayor, soon discovers that the police have done everything possible to erase any evidence. "The bicycle has
been disposed of," an unhelpful official tells him. "Also the truck driver's file." During Filiotis's funeral, a
mishap with his coffin reveals not a body but a trove of archeological treasures. Filiotis's appointment book
provides some leads for Zafiris and his raw but eager helper, Haris Pezas, to pursue. Meanwhile, Zafiris
takes on a worried new client, Anna Kenteri, who wants him to locate her missing sister, violinist Keti
Kenteri. Both cases turns out to be complex and dangerous. Kanaris depicts a troubled Greece with
compassion and precisely observed social commentary. (Aug.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Blood & Gold." Publishers Weekly, 12 June 2017, p. 43. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A495720659/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=89070fd4.
Accessed 24 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A495720659
3/24/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1521918856164 2/2
Codename Xenophon
Publishers Weekly.
262.17 (Apr. 27, 2015): p54.
COPYRIGHT 2015 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* Codename Xenophon
Leo Kanaris. Dedalus, $15.99 trade paper (255p) ISBN 978-1-909232-83-9
Set in Athens in 2010, Kanaris's impressive debut, the first in a projected quartet, effectively evokes
Greece's noble antiquity while portraying its current financial crisis, which his hero, PI George Zafiris,
attributes to former prime minister Papandreou, who created the "most bloated, obstructive bureaucracy on
the planet." Zafiris, scraping by from case to case, aching from the infidelity of a wife he still loves, and at
every step hamstrung by corrupt and arrogant police, investigates the shooting of a Greek scholar and
confronts a Gordian knot of governmental corruption, adulterous relationships, and vicious criminals.
Struggling to preserve his self-respect, Zafiris prevails--almost. Disgusted by those whose respect for
Greece's past leads them to avoid present-day responsibilities, Zafiris worries constantly over his country
and its future, but he survives through fitful glimpses of the spirit that gave birth to Western civilization,
still strong after 2,500 years. (June)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Codename Xenophon." Publishers Weekly, 27 Apr. 2015, p. 54. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A412556002/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=0cafacea.
Accessed 24 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A412556002
Review | Leo Kanaris, Blood & Gold | Book of the Week
BookBlast™ reviews Greek crime novel in translation, Blood & Gold.
Blood & Gold, and an earlier thriller by Leo Kanaris, Codename Xenophon, are perfect examples of how well-crafted detective fiction from another culture opens windows on to a brave new world, and shows that there are more similarities than differences between us all as we get on with the business of living in failing Western societies.
As the post-war liberal bandwagon begins to roll backwards, overtaken by the populist demagogue’s juggernaut of lies, we need more cracking good crime stories like this one, to entertain, illuminate, and inform.
The Greek crisis
“He made a sandwich with some feta and sweet red peppers in oil, spread out the daily newspaper on the kitchen table, and began to read as he ate. The sandwich was as good but the news was bad. The Prime Minister, Mr Tsipras, had called new elections. Experts were trying to predict who would win. George found it hard to concentrate. National politics gave him a deadly sense of déjà vu. One gang of parasites succeeding another, sucking the life out of the nation, giving nothing back but empty promises. How much did the people of Greece have left to give?” Leo Kanaris’ Athens-based private detective, George Zafiris, is in the Chandleresque mould: tough and world-weary, yet principled and with a heart.
macedonian gold bookblastZafiris sets out to find out the truth about the ‘accidental’ death of his old friend Mario Filiotis, Mayor of Astypalea, who is fatally hit on his bicycle by a truck full of firewood. At the funeral, the pall bearers slip and drop the coffin which splits open to reveal bags of Hellenistic and Roman treasure in place of Mario’s body. A principled individual, the mayor had actively got behind road building projects, the restoration of old buildings and, we discover, a social project to build a medical school involving big business, public funds, Europe, charities and Mr Merkulov, a Russian businessman whose amorality is such that whatever makes money is good, just don’t look how . . .
A second seemingly unrelated ‘accidental death’, that of a beautiful and talented concert violinist falling off a cliff, brings Zafiris up against an opaque wall behind which lurk potentates protected by money and influence, “people who had no need of others, no belief in anything but their own advancement.” The violinist’s besotted, grieving husband takes refuge in the Byzantine monasteries of Mount Athos: is he the killer, or the fall guy?
Zafiris and his sidekick, Haris, team up with Sotiriou, head of Athens Police violent crimes unit. Warnings and death treats intensify as they unearth a bloody web of intrigue, spearheaded by a Mafiosi character, Kokoras, and the Marangos brothers, involving the illegal export of antiquities, construction companies, restaurants, bars, hotels, and prostitutes working as maids. Their Georgian-Russian big bosses pulling the strings remain all but invisible.
astypalea greece bookblast diaryAs the action intensifies, we are treated to a mini tour of ancient Greece – Vergina, Pella, Astypalea, Mount Athos and its “monasteries clinging like swallows’ nests to cliffs above the sea” – and an unhealthy fascination with priceless antiquities. This contrasts with the impoverished Greece of today: “He passed the familiar shops, struggling after six years of crisis to do any business at all: the upholsterer and curtain-maker, who had once laid out luxurious Italian fabrics in his window and now displayed a single dowdy chair with a yellowing card saying ‘all work undertaken’; the model aeroplane shop dusty with unsold boxes; the music store, no longer frequented by hopeful young guitarists and drummers; the bookshop, the shoe shop, the printer, all empty of customers. Only Evantheia the florist struck a positive note. Between the shops and along the apartment blocks every piece of spare wall had been sprayed with graffiti. Property is theft. Banking is terrorism. Merkel is Hitler. Pay up or we’ll quit the euro…. Simplistic slogans and hideous cartoon graphics. Hooded figures of death, swastikas and dollar signs. Did anyone believe this nonsense?”
“Eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we may die”
Zafiris enjoys his food and often has meetings in tavernas and cafés over a plate of grilled sardines, Greek salad, or meze of feta cheese and olives, washed down with retsina. Fig jam is a favourite. Despite the crushing atmosphere of cynicism and lost hope, many individuals go about their daily lives trying to operate with self-discipline and concern for others, our earth, our future, in the face of a tidal wave of dishonesty and self-interest. Politicians and the press are locked in a cycle of increasingly hysterical anti-immigrant rhetoric, avoiding the uncomfortable truth that the real problem is socio-economic inequality with people of all backgrounds facing poverty and exclusion as disaster capitalism takes hold worldwide. “Germany had taken as many as it could. Macedonia had closed its southern border. Greece was forced to look after them until a solution could be found.
Who were these people? Not all, it seemed, were victims of the civil war in Syria. Many came from Iraq and Afghanistan. These, said experts in Europe, were ‘economic migrants’, with no right of asylum. Some could even be terrorists, using the humanitarian route into a society they had sworn to destroy. Most Greeks, however, felt there was only one decent response: to take them in. Whether their future was wrecked instantly by a bomb or slowly by a failed society, despair was despair. Distinction between grades and speeds of personal disaster seemed callous, typical of observers seated in comfort many hundreds of miles away.”
It turns out that there is not much difference between the underworld and the ‘legitimate’ political arena. George Orwell’s words are apt: “The rule of naked force obtains almost everywhere . . . Bully-worship, under various disguises, has become a universal religion.”
Blood & Gold by Leo Kanaris | Dedalus Ltd, Cambridge, UK | January 2017 £9.90 336pp PB | ISBN: 978 1 910213 10 0 | e-book: 978 1 910213 57 5
CLASSIC CRIME
By Barry Turner for the Daily Mail
PUBLISHED: 17:00 EDT, 7 May 2015 | UPDATED: 17:00 EDT, 7 May 2015
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-3072391/CLASSIC-CRIME.html#ixzz5AhBTO6Bq
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
CODENAME XENOPHON
Codename Xenophon by Leo Kanaris +3
Codename Xenophon by Leo Kanaris
by Leo Kanaris
(Dedalus £9.99)
Blessed with all the virtues of a traditional murder mystery, this debut novel has a sharp political edge.
Three years in Athens left Leo Kanaris with a loathing for the self-serving parasites and bureaucrats who ‘had paralysed the country for decades’.
In Codename Xenophon, this insider’s view of a paralytic society is seen through the eyes of George Zafiris, a private investigator who does his best to tread the straight and narrow, while those around him are too greedy or plain scared to take responsibility.
It is the apparently motiveless killing of an elderly academic that embroils Zafiris in political machinations at the highest level. But, as his dogged perseverance begins to pay off, he comes to realise that even the best intentions can have tragic consequences.
With vivid characterisation and a plot that thickens without obscuring the essential threads, Kanaris emerges as a sharp new talent in crime writing.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-3072391/CLASSIC-CRIME.html#ixzz5AhBVKj5k
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook