The Gates of Hell
A Mystery of Alexander the Great 
By Paul Doherty

    Welcome back to Paul Dohertyland, a place with a character as unique and inimitable as any other invented world. His delightfully lurid tales of the murky side of history show us a world full of sinister spies, magicians, torture, poisons and plots and show no sign of flagging even after he has written so much. This is the third in Paul Doherty's delightfully lurid series about Alexander the Great and his boyhood friend, the physician and sleuth Telamon. This time, they are poised to conquer Halicarnassus, but Persian spies lurk within his camp and are plotting in best Doherty fashion. Soon the bodies are piling up and it is up to Telamon to find out "whodunit" before Halicarnassus is in other hands.

     Alexander the Great is one of history's star turns, and everything about him is larger than life; his family, his exploits, his foes and his friends. Having a novel about him that also contains a whodunit seems to be gilding the lily a bit, and I confess that my favorite aspect of this series is the history itself. Served up with added sinister spies and supernatural secrets is certainly how I enjoy it, so Doherty has added another dimension to the oft-told tale. This is not to say that the whodunit isn't up to standard - this is surely one of Doherty's best series yet - and the slim volume is packed to bursting with facts, fiction and pure entertainment. There are lot of novels currently around about Alexander but this set has a tangible ambience of what it might have been like to be there in his camp. All that is needed now is for some bright spark to be really original and tell the story from the Persians' point of view…