The Maidens

 

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides (2021) 337 Pages

The mysterious ritualistic murder of a college woman piques the interest of Greek widow Mariana. Her surrogate daughter, who is actually her niece was good friends with the woman who died. Mariana travels to Cambridge to make sure her niece is okay, and begins take an interest in the mysterious death. As more murders of the same style begin to pile up, Mariana becomes more embroiled in finding out who is committing them. Her focal point is on Edward Fosca, an American professor at the University who specializes in Greek Tragedy. Mariana thinks he is the murderer because the women who are being murdered are in his special study group- The Maidens. Mariana keeps finding postcards of either ancient Greek or baroque style paintings with ancient Greek passages written on the back. Throughout her findings, she is running from her own tragic story, the sudden loss of her husband, who turns out to not be the man she thought he was. 

Overall I enjoyed this story, with the psychoanalysis expertise throughout in addition to the Greek classics, such as the story of Demeter and Persephone. Solid 3 out of 5 stars.