I'm surprised I hadn't heard of this book earlier, but thank goodness for the Daily Star of Bangladesh, in which there appears a review of José Carlos Somoza's The Athenian Murders (the original Spanish title literally means "The Cave of the Ideas"), published originally in 2000. Sounds like quite a fun novel, although if I hear any more references to Russian dolls or to "mysteries wrapped in enigmas" I'm sure I'll scream.
The novel starts as a historical murder mystery set in ancient Athens, but notes from the supposed translator of the papyrus begin to interact with the story's text, and Platonic/post-modernist shenanigans ensue...From the Salon.com review:
The detective in the central story is named Heracles Pontor (a nod to Agatha Christie's famous sleuth Hercule Poirot there), and when the predominant images in the second chapter concern snakes and multiple heads, it's not hard for anyone who remembers her basic Greek mythology to figure out that the Labors of Hercules is the motif at work. But "The Athenian Murders" has more -- and far more ingenious -- tricks up its sleeves. Heracles (whose professional title is "Decipherer of Enigmas") teams up with one Diagoras, a tutor at the Academy -- yes, that Academy -- to figure out how one of its students wound up lying dead on the outskirts of Athens, apparently mauled by wolves.
Along the top of the pages, the two men make their expected tour through significant institutions of classical Greek society -- the brothels at the port of Piraeus, the agora, various temples, the gymnasium and eventually to the Academy itself, where Plato makes the obligatory cameo -- in search of clues. They debate the relative value of Heracles' rigorously empirical reason vs. the idealistic Platonic philosophy espoused by Diagoras. At the bottom of the pages, the translator eagerly notes eidetic images and contemplates contacting the venerable Montalo, an elderly scholar, to request a look at the original papyrus.
The Complete Review is charmed by the cleverness, on the other hand, but unhappy with the writing generally...And what do you know? The book also has a Wikipedia page.
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