Death in Cyprus (novel)

Death in Cyprus (published in 1956) is an M. M. Kaye mystery novel. The story, set on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, focuses on 21-year-old Amanda Derington who, against her strict uncle Oswin's wishes, decides to have a holiday on the beautiful island. However, whilst on a boat to the island, she witnesses the murder of one of the passengers. But the longer she spends on Cyprus, the more she gets the feeling that she was the intended victim.

Amanda Derington is staying in Egypt with her aunt and uncle; against her guardian's wishes she travels to Cyprus by ferry to see the island. Her aunt arranges for her to stay with an elderly female member of the British expatriate community who turns out to be eccentric, charming and insightful.

On the ferry Amanda meets Steve for the first time and a murder occurs in which they are both involved. Once on Cyprus Steve and Amanda see a lot of each other despite her thinking him attractive but rude (and knowing he would be completely unacceptable to her guardian) and he saying that her presence was distracting him. Steve appears to be an artist and he can certainly draw but there is some mystery about him.

Through a series of near death experiences and a couple of misunderstandings, the novel reaches a satisfactory end with the unmasking of the murderer and the union of Steve and Amanda.

Characters

 * Amanda Derington, the protagonist
 * Steven Howard, a mysterious artist
 * Julia Blaine, the woman murdered
 * Alistair Blaine, Julia's husband
 * Persis Halliday, a romance writer
 * Claire Norman, a femme fatal
 * George Norman, Claire's husband
 * Glenn Barton, an employee of Oswin
 * Anita Barton, Glenn's former wife
 * Lumley Potter, an artist who Anita ran off with
 * Toby Gates, Amanda's prospective male-friend