SONS OF SPARTA

A rugged region of Greece harbors rough and vengeful crime syndicates. Is veteran Inspector Kaldis tough enough to break them?

Detective Yianni Kouros is summoned by his uncle to the remote region of Mani in Southern Greece, where lawlessness is common and family bonds are tight. Uncle, who formerly ran a small criminal empire, is about to sell his land to a developer in light of a recent tourist boom that threatens to change the nature of the area drastically. Shortly after absorbing this remarkable news, Kouros gets a call in Athens from his cousin Mangas reporting that Uncle has died after his car ran off the road. Kouros is immediately worried that it's the start of a bloody clan war. "Time to speak to the chief"—that is, his boss, Andreas Kaldis. Not one to mince words or avoid confrontation, Kaldis, who heads the country's Special Crime Division, immediately confronts Orestes, Mani's criminal alpha dog, who makes a point of snubbing him. At Uncle's funeral, Kouros is shocked to see his grieving cousin Calliope challenge her brothers to seek vengeance via a bristling poem she delivers at her father's grave. Tassos Stamatos, chief homicide investigator for the Cyclades islands, recommends that Andreas steer clear of Orestes, but that's hardly his style; when he learns that Uncle was poisoned, his course is set. Kouros, meanwhile, seeks to befriend Uncle's mates in the local tavern and elsewhere. Both lawmen are surprised by the identity of the killer.

Kaldis' sixth case (Mykonos After Midnight, 2013, etc.) offers a lively, gritty plot, an abundance of local color and two righteous heroes.