The politics of love, the intrigues of desireÊÉ love and murder, moved obscurely in the dark corners of AlexandriaÕs streets and squares, brothels and drawing-roomsÊÐ moved like a great congress of eels in the slime of plot and counter-plotÉÕ In Balthazar, the second volume in DurrellÕs Alexandria Quartet, the story and the characters come more clearly into focus. Darley, the reflective Englishman, receives from Balthazar, the pathologist, a mass of notes which attempt to explain what really happened between the tempestuous Justine, her husband Nessim, Clea the artist, Pursewarden the writer; new figures emerge and play key roles. Balthazar, in his ÔInterlinearÕ, explains and warns.