The House in Apranthos

A body from the 1940s is discovered beneath the cellar floor of an old house in the village of Apíranthos on Naxos. Nestling in the arms of the skeleton is a cache of ancient coins which appear to have been buried with the body. Inspector Christos Korres calls on archaeologist Martin Day for his opinion. Day has strong reservations. His recent experiences with the police have left him with bad memories, and anyway he is no expert on numismatics. Reluctantly he agrees to look into it, and soon he is deeply involved, especially when more antiquities are found hidden in the old house.He is in the middle of making a television series about current excavations in the Cyclades, visiting sites where ancient objects have been buried in the usual way: in a conflict or disaster, or as part of a ritual. The work takes him to places where astonishing things are being unearthed, but none are so intriguing as the discoveries in Apíranthos. As he takes ferries round the Cyclades, flirts with the mystery of the Phaistos Disc, and surprises his wife with a romantic break on Santorini, the questions hanging over the unidentified skeleton are never far from his mind. He begins to work out what may have happened, though his theory is as incredible as anything he has come across before. He also realises that there are people who would rather that the secrets of the house remain just as they are: buried in the past.The House in Apíranthos is the sixth book in The Naxos Mysteries series.