Gary Corby Books In Order

Publication Order of The Athenian Mysteries Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Gary Corby is a history, humor, mystery, and thriller fiction author from Australia who sets his works in Classical Greece. The author has long been fascinated by ancient history and found it more bizarre and exciting than any other modern thriller.
He thus combines his love of ancient history with mystery to come up with some enthralling historical mysteries he sets in classical Greece.

His novels usually feature historical women and men from the time such as Pericles, Socrate, and the priestess Diotima of Mantinea as recurring characters.

Corby published “The Pericles Commission,” the first novel of the “Athenian Mysteries” series of novels in 2010. The novel became so popular that he then decided to write a series.

Like many authors, Gary Corby began reading history from a very young age. As a teenager, he used to love reading ancient Roman and Greek history and a sprinkling of World War II and medieval history for fun.
In college, he studied Mathematics and then would go on to work as a software developer. While he decided to work in software development, he never let go of the dream of one day becoming an author.
During all the years he spent working as a software developer, he used to read a lot of classical Greek works and came to know a lot about the period.

He first traveled to Turkey, Greece and the Aegean when he was in his early twenties, even though he never imagined that he would one day be writing about these places.

Gary began writing the manuscript for his debut novel when he read about a real-life murder reported in classical Athens that remained a cold case for centuries.

Athens the first democratic state just had Ephialtes the founder of Democracy assassinated. The city decides to hire Pericles a young politician to solve the crime, while he turns around and gets the help of Socrates an irritating 12-year-old sibling.
Gary currently makes his home in Sydney, Australia where he lives with his wife and two daughters. He is also active as a blogger writing everything about all things mysterious and ancient Athenian on his blog “A Dead Man Fell from the Sky.”
Outside of his writing, Gary Corby has several hobbies that he engages in when he has some free time. Next to his desk is a Fender Stratocaster guitar, which has almost all its parts upgraded so that it has now become a custom-built instrument.
As the father to two daughters in their pre-teenage and teenage years, he loves to spend time with his children, sometimes acting as a taxi service, particularly for the elder kid.
Similar to his contemporaries, he reads a lot, and over the years, he has collected and has thousands of books in his house.

“The Pericles Commission” is the debut novel of “The Athenian Mysteries” series of novels by Gary Corbi.

At the opening of the story, the stakes could not be higher as “The Pericles Commission” is looking to find out who killed the man behind the democracy movement – Ephialtes.
In charge of the investigation is a twenty-year-old named Nicolaos who wil do anything to leave the sculpture shop run by his father to go out and make his own mark.

Nicolaos was the first person to discover the body of Ephialtes and began hunting for clues only to find himself entangled in a complex web of political deceit.

He is fortunate that he has the support of the talismanic leader of the city-state Pericles, even if they have never seen eye to eye.

He also has the support of a young priestess, who is just as determined to get to the bottom of the murder mystery as him, besides Socrates and the ready and rough captain of the guard.
Nicolaos’ hunt for the murderer results in a whirlwind tour of the ancient city of Athens and the surrounding areas.

Corby pens his story with a flourish as he weaves into it, informed descriptions of the obscure home building, clay tablet writing, sewage treatment and the jury trial system most popularly known as the Agora.

“The Ionia Sanction” by Gary Corbi opens with Nicolaos sent on a mission to Iaonia by Pericles. He is to stop a conspiracy to invade and destroy Athens but once he arrives in Ephesus, he finds the Proxenos to Athens has been killed.
While investigating the mysterious murder, he has to deal with various calamities and setbacks, but his luck changes when he buys Asia a slave girl.

A few days after he brings her to his house, he learns that she is the daughter of Themistocles, who was once upon a time a hero but is now a traitor to Athens and one of the most powerful diplomats in Ephesus.
While he is returning Asia, he meets Diotima who went to Ephesus earlier to become a priestess. They join forces as they work hard investigating the treasonous murder.

What follows is a thrilling historical mystery in which Diotima and Nicolaos work together to solve the complex case.

They will do anything to ensure the man responsible for the heinous murder is brought to justice for trying to derail Athenian democracy.

“Sacred Games” by Gary Corbi is the third of “The Athenian Mysteries” series of novels.

The work is set in 460 BC during the Olympics where Timodeus who happens to be best friends with Nicolaos is competing in the deadly martial art pankration. His only serious rival is Spartan Arakos but he remains the hot favorite to come out victorious.
But there is a complication when Arakios is found dead after a vicious beating and the authorities believe Timodeus is responsible given their rivalry. He is sentenced to death and is set to be executed in four days once the Sacred Games are done.
Further complicating things is the fact that Sparta and Athens are in a tense mood in the opening stages as they are fighting to gain control over Hellas.

If an Athenian is believed to have committed fraud and killed a Spartan, the hawks in the city will declare open war once the games are done. It is a war that Athens knows it does not have a hope to win.
Working with his Diotima his sleuthing partner Nico has a few hours to save his friend and ensure that war does not break out.