In this book, the second of the Criminal Conversations trilogy, Laura Lyndhurst transports us to a greek island, an isolated and forgotten place where life drifts on as it has done for centuries. Stephanos Stephanidou, a police officer is posted there, after challenging a superior officer and succumbs to depression, believing his career and hopes of marriage are over. When he meets an ascetic hermit, initially named as Kadi, he slowly begins to believe in a new future as the old man relates a tale of betrayal and lost love. This is an amazing story with a clever writing style that drags you in from the beginning and keeps you immersed until the end. It’s very descriptive and the dialogue between the characters keeps you hanging on to every word. Stephanos Stephanidou is bored, depressed and almost contemplating suicide until he meets an old hermit living in the ruins of an old house. The pair strike up a conversation that leads to the hermit telling Stephanos his life story, which becomes the basis of the novel. What was very clear is the research of Greek and local cultures she must have undertaken in writing this book, interestingly, even writing a bibliography at the end.

Lieutenant Stephanos Stephanidou has upset a senior officer and because of this he is shipped off to a small town with an ageing population, decaying buildings and zero crime rate. I was born and grew up in North London, England, but was unable to attend university when young due to family financial circumstances. Instead, I worked at various occupations, including dental nurse, laboratory assistant and shop assistant.When Stephanos Stephanidous reputation as an honest police detective puts him on the wrong side of a superior, he earns a posting on a small Greek island where crime is non-existent. With nothing to do, he starts looking into an old cold case involving the apparent suicide of a young woman and the simultaneous disappearance of a young man. He happens upon Kadi, one of the main characters in the past drama, an old man now with little time to live and a burden to unload. I really thought Stephanos was a good character in that his flaws and desperation were clear to see in his move to the island. He needed something that the cold case had to reignite his true self which came to the forefront of this book. The plot is steady and fulfilling, especially the later stages when the titles start to unravel what is truly happening. When you go through the layers in this modern day Greek tragedy, you will find the themes of confession, penance and even resurrection. I won't say who or why or what because that would be a spoiler.

So, we jumped onto this one, the second book in the Criminal Conversations trilogy by Laura Lyndhurst, and I wasn't disappointed. Some sequels - or the next book in a series - drops you right at the end of the previous book, and you don't have to do any thinking as you enter into it, and that's no fun at all. While the opening direction of Degenerate Regenerate does indeed captivate, you're also wondering how it ties to Fairytales Don't Come True, and you then arrive at one of those moments where you point your finger at a particular character in the story, and say, "I know who you are!" even before they’re fully introduced. I love investigations; the sorting through clues and evidence, and scratching your head over what might be firm leads and what might be red herrings, and this one has that - it did for me.Book two in the Criminal Confessions series sees us transferred to a small, poor, Greek island. I said, in my review of book one, Fairytales Don’t Come True, that I came to Lyndhursts’s writing through her poetry, recognised a writing style and started on her novels. This second helping does not disappoint. In 2016 we moved to the peace and quiet of rural Lincolnshire, and my sporadic writing activities became more permanent. I self-published Fairytales Don't Come True, my debut novel, in May 2020 and since then have written and published four books of poetry, October Poems, Thanksgiving Poems & Prose Pieces, Poet-Pourri and Social Climbing and Other Poems. Lyndhurst has a skill of making you feel you are in the scene, a silent observer, sitting in the corner, watching and listening. No long, drawn-out descriptions of place here, instead she allows you, through the actions and thoughts of the characters to feel the place, the dust, the heat, the dilapidation. So, what does this have to do with the tragic story of Magdalena in Fairytales Don't Come True you might ask. Keep reading, for when the connection becomes clear you will squeal with delight. I did!