Since the night Inspector Haritos had the brilliant idea to offer his chest as a shield in order to save Elena Kousta from a bullet fired by her stepson, his life has changed radically. Haritos' long convalescence has given his wife the opportunity to take control and, now, subdued and tamed, he witnesses a shocking suicide captured live on TV. The victim, Iason Favieros, a former revolutionary activist who had been jailed during the dictatorship of the Colonels, had built up a sprawling business empire in a surprisingly short period of time, including Olympic contracts. This tragedy is quickly followed by the suicides of a well-known Greek MP and a national journalist – at his own party. With the police and the press left groping in the dark, Inspector Haritos is under pressure to solve the mystery that is lurking behind this series of public suicides, unveiling the secrets buried in the victims' past

Petros Markaris's crime fiction has won critical acclaim around the world. His suspense novels are propelled by intricate plots and peopled by villains and all-too-human heroes tangled up in the peculiar ways of contemporary Greece, and at their heart is junta-trained homicide squad chief Costas Haritos. Deadline in Athens finds Inspector Haritos called to the scene of a murder: the renowned TV journalist Janna has been killed in the broadcasting studio just as she was about to go on the air with some sensational news. Haritos's investigation sucks him deep into the nasty world of the Greek media. When Janna's successor also is murdered, Haritos steps up his investigation. He nearly gets suspended from his job because his theories make various important people uncomfortable. In the end, the killer he unmasks comes as a shocking surprise. The first of three novels featuring Inspector Haritos, Deadline in Athens exposes the corruption that has pervaded both private and public life in Greece since the fall of the military dictatorship, the advent of a democratic government, and the explosion of barely controlled private entrepreneurship