‘The Gold of Thrace’ by Aileen G Baron
Published by Poisoned Pen Press. ISBN 1-59058-430-9

This story opens with the stabbing of a young man at the archaeological site of Ephesus in Turkey, while at the same time a gold statue of the ancient Mother Goddess Kybele is stolen from the museum at the site. From another dig, also in Turkey, a beautiful mosaic, uncovered by the archaeologist Tamara Saticoy, is stolen. And Tamara’s  colleague, the all-too corruptible Andrew Chatham, while on his way by train to Prague, is offered a priceless gold hoard from Thrace (now Bulgaria) by the alluring Irena and her brother Dimitar.

The international illegal trade in stolen and forged archaeological treasures is immense. Tamar, who has her own painful and deeply personal reasons for wishing to bring to justice those involved in the trade, is persuaded to travel to Switzerland where stolen antiquities often emerge. There she encounters the antiquities dealer, Gilberto Dela Barcolo, and his friend the enigmatic Enzio Egidio. Meanwhile, Chatham, tempted by greed and by Irena in equal measure, meets his end.

The acknowledged queen of archaeological mysteries is Elizabeth Peters, and it is good to see another writer in the field whose archaeological credentials are also excellent. Aileen Baron has a Ph.D. in archaeology, taught for many years at California State University and has extensive fieldwork experience and considerable knowledge of the international antiquities trade. This gives a feeling of real authenticity to this book, one of the reasons why I found it particularly interesting and enjoyable.
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Radmila May
Other titles by Aileen G. Baron: A Fly Has a Hundred Eyes, The Torch of Tangier.