Robert MacLean's new murder mystery, Home from the Party (Ronsdale) has a lot going for it: exotic location (Aegean island), a Greek cop who went to the University of Toronto to study under Andreas Papandreou (who lived in Canada until the Colonels were thrown out of power), and a murder mystery that grows into political conspiracy and all that stuff. But the author needs a stronger editor: the exposition (a big problem in the genre) is clumsy and it's not easy to tell the characters apart (too many of them). One of the supporting characters is a thinly disguised Leonard Cohen, which is a big mistake: once you spot him you're watching for him all the time. In this way fiction is just like real life: those celebrities are always stealing the show, even when you think you're in charge.