Product Description

In the summer of 336 B.C., Philip of Macedon, a master of ancient Greece, is about to celebrate his glorious reign. Philip, intent on his moment of glory, has summoned all of Greece to the great celebrations in the old capital of Aegae. At his crowning moment, Philip is murdered by Pausanias, the young captain of his guard. As the Macedonian court sinks into chaos, his son Alexander must fight for his rights against treachery both at home and abroad, all the while searching for those responsible for his father's death. Martin's Press.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #678476 in Books
• Published on: 1998-11-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 272 pages

From Library Journal
Larger-than-life events and characters crowd the stage as the young and comely Alexander takes power after the murder of his father, the one-eyed, lame, womanizing Philip of Macedon. Apparently innocent himself, Alexander asks his Jewish friends Miriam and Simeon to find out who was behind the murder. Suspects abound, including Alexander's resentful and witchlike mother. Plenty of blood, gore, battlefields, scheming, crumbling palaces, wenching, drinking, and famous names compensate for some rocky segues. An exciting glimpse into a turbulent time; Apostolou is the pseudonym of a noted writer of historical mysteries.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Not just any murder, either; it's the assassination of Philip of Macedon. Scores of witnesses saw Pausanias, commander of Philip's palace guard, stab his master to death as he entered the amphitheater to be hailed as captain general of Greece. But since they also saw Pausanias buried under the blows of his former underlings in the guard (shades of Jack Ruby) moments after the assassination, questions still abound. Did Pausanias kill Philip in revenge for an exceptionally brutal prank his lord had connived at, or was he acting for someone else? And given the number of people with powerful reasons for wanting Philip dead- -his rejected former queen Olympias, his half-wit son Arridhaeus, his crafty chief of staff Antipater, the scheming orator Demosthenes, and Olympias' son Alexander, destined to succeed his father as Alexander the Great--which of them could it have been? These questions come from the historical record of Philip's death; pseudonymous Apostolou (``a critically acclaimed [British] author of historical mysteries'') adds a pair of upstart twins, Alexander's Jewish-Egyptian friends Miriam and Simeon Bartimaeus, to question Philip's intimates--one after another of them swimming into suspicion--to uncover their ties to a Persian conspiracy and the cult of a dead pharaoh; and finally to produce a handsome pair of surprises. Obviously modeled on Steven Saylor's tales of Imperial Rome, though the Bartimaeus twins have nothing like Gordianus the Finder's presence or wisdom. The centerpiece remains irrepressible Alexander, flexing his muscles like a young god. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review

Customer Reviews

Fascinating review history
I've seen Phillip's tomb, and early next year I'm starting in Thessaloniki and following Alexander's trail through parts of Turkey. So, I'm reading everything I can get hold of on Alexander. I enjoyed both Alexander books by Apostolou. I also read the two Alexander books by P.C. Doherty. I noticed some of the language in the two series's is the same. I've never come across the phrase, "He pulled a face" before, so I speculated they were the same author. It turns out, that's true.

There have been a couple of negative reviews here from people insisting on historical accuracy and pointing out alleged flaws. OK. That's their right. Interestingly, the reviews on the Doherty side of the house are almost universally rave reviews.

Fascinating.

Intriguing mystery with historical setting
Historical mysteries are all the rage now, and so we come to the murder of a king in Ancient Greece, replete with conspiracy, intrigue, and witchcraft. Such novels are harder to write than regular detective novels: in addition to the mystery needing to be good, the historical aspects need to be good also. Here the author succeeds reasonably well, and the result is a good book, worth reading if you're interested in Greek history or mysteries.

I had only a sketchy knowledge of the murder of Philip of Macedon prior to this book, but what I saw in the book was good. The king is killed during a public ceremony by one of his own guards, who is about to escape, but killed by the guards under circumstances that make it look as if he was never intended to escape at all. There's also another assassin who's been killed, further confusing things.

The detective protagonist is the most interesting character in the book, a Jewish woman whose brother is a scribe for the king himself. Once the king is dead, Alexander (soon to be the Great) asks the woman and her brother to look into the murder, and what she finds is fun and intriguing. There's a spurned wife who indulges in witchcraft, and [unintellegent] son who seems harmless but is looking for a suspicious knife, a crafty old general who's scheming for power, a pair of brothers who are pretenders to the throne, etc. All of these are suspects, and Miriam, must sort through them and figure out who might or might not have done it.

Miriam and her brother are interesting characters, and the solution is believable, if a bit far-fetched. I would recommend the book, and will be looking for the sequel.

Whodunnit?
Anna Apostolou (Also known as Paul C. Doherty) has asked a fantastic question. While we know it was the disgruntled Pausanias who killed the one eyed King Philip II of Macedon, we don't know exactly who pulled the strings of his killer. Was it the wicked Queen Olympias- his scheming ex-wife and mother of Alexander? Or was it his heir- the cocky young Prince Alexander himself? Could it have been his sworn enemy- the powerful King Darius of Persia? Who gained the most from King Philip's death? Anna Apostolou creates a brother and sister team, Jewish twins Miriam and Simeon, (close friends of Alexander) to work on solving the mystery. Alexander insists he has nothing to do with it, and instructs Miriam to find out for him.

While some have complained that boorish, womanizing, King Philip isn't even killed until sixty pages into the book, I found this refreshing. By then, I had actually grown to like Philip. This itself was amazing, because I've disliked him in every other historical fiction featuring Alexander the Great that I've read. I was also glad to see Alexander's, often overlooked, half brother Arrhidaeus continuously throughout the story. (The half-wit later known to some as Philip III of Macedon did actually rule for a short time after Alexander the Great's death.) I applaud how the author left clues along the way, and allowed Miriam to figure out what happened, but still GREATLY surprised me in the end with what was discovered by Miriam. I never even saw it coming! Anna Apostolou's answer is fascinating- and seems exactly like something that would have happened. Very clever indeed!

I'm looking forward to the next story about Alexander the Great and his friends Miriam and Simeon- A Murder in Thebes (St. Martin's Minotaur Mysteries). Not everything is tied up nicely. I want to know what will happen to Olympias. Will she continue to scheme? Will Alexander's newly returned companions support him on his future campaigns? Does anything come of Miriam's affection for Alexander, and what does Simeon think of it?

Historical fiction about Alexander the Great that I also recommend: The Alexander the Great trilogy by Mary Renault Fire from Heaven, The Persian Boy, Funeral Games; Melissa Scott's historical fiction about Alexander the Great turning towards Rome A Choice of Destinies; and Judith Tarr's Alexander the Great historical fiction told from an Egyptian point of view Lord of the Two Lands