The Nameless Dead
An admirable police chief does his best to defend vulnerable migrants in the timely mystery novel The Nameless Dead.
On a Greek island, a police inspector works to solve the murders of Syrian women at a refugee camp in Leta Serafim’s thoughtful mystery novel The Nameless Dead.
Yiannis is the head of police on the island of Chios, where Raina, a Syrian refugee, is discovered with her throat cut. Raina was living in Vial, a camp housing refugees from the Middle East that exists in miserable conditions while the camp administrator and his wife live beyond their means. A witness is murdered before she can tell Yiannis more. Convinced they’re dealing with human trafficking, Yiannis sends Melissa, a detective, into the camp undercover, pitting his team against a brutal criminal ring whose work transcends international borders, involving Greece, Turkey, Syria, and Russia.
The case is complicated by Yiannis’s personal life. For instance, he also rescues Ali, a boy whose mother drowned when their boat of Syrian refugees capsized off the coast of Chios, from Vial. He and his wife Lydia decide to adopt Ali—a decision that runs counter to Greek legal procedure. Stirring Yiannis’s home life further is the unexpected arrival of his first wife, Dimitra, who made him miserable but who now has cancer and needs his help.
In this series-continuing title, much focus is devoted to Yiannis’s professional team. It includes his assistant, Giorgos, who is rather quick on the trigger; Melissa, an officer with a drinking problem; and Papa Michalis, a retired priest who overeats and whose nonstop talking makes suspects confess to get away from him. Lydia, meanwhile, is a Greek American artist whose cultural differences with her husband result in humor. All are developed with an even hand, mixing their flaws with their charms. This extends to Yiannis himself, who knows that he is “no Sherlock Holmes or Hercules Poirot,” but whose persistence and an unfailing belief in equal justice for all drive him to solve the case. Still, most of the characterizations remain on people’s surfaces; with the exception of Yiannis, there is little depiction of people’s internal lives.
The island setting is developed in picturesque terms, with elements of Greek history and contemporary political news included for context. The plight of Syrian refugees and migrants is also addressed with realism. Some people Yiannis encounters espouse anti-migrant views, whereas Yiannis exemplifies broad-mindedness, recognizing people’s humanity and honoring their differences. He makes valiant attempts to speak to Ali and others in Arabic with the help of an app, for example.
The mystery itself is not particularly mysterious, though. Part of the solution is made rather obvious, and there is an insufficient buildup of suspense, so the resolution falls flat. Misspelled words and punctuation errors also impede immersion in the text.
In the moving mystery novel The Nameless Dead, embattled migrants on a Greek island benefit from the help of a memorable chief of police.
Reviewed by
Yelena Furman
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