The naked body of a young Englishwoman washes up in Istanbul wearing a pendant inscribed with the seal of the deposed sultan. The death resembles the unsolved murder of another Englishwoman, a governess, ten years before. A magistrate in the new secular courts, Kamil Pasha, sets out to find the killer, but his dispassionate belief in science and modernity is shaken by betrayal and widening danger. In a lush, mystical voice, a young Muslim woman recounts her own relationship with one of the dead women and with the suspected ...
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The naked body of a young Englishwoman washes up in Istanbul wearing a pendant inscribed with the seal of the deposed sultan. The death resembles the unsolved murder of another Englishwoman, a governess, ten years before. A magistrate in the new secular courts, Kamil Pasha, sets out to find the killer, but his dispassionate belief in science and modernity is shaken by betrayal and widening danger. In a lush, mystical voice, a young Muslim woman recounts her own relationship with one of the dead women and with the suspected killer. Were these political murders involving the palace or crimes of personal passion? Rich in sensuous detail, this novel of faith and desire brilliantly captures the political and social upheavals of the waning Ottoman Empire and the contradictory desires of the human soul, transporting listeners to another time and place.
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I love the "cozy" English mystery; the kind where horror happens in an everyday setting and the author plays fair, for if one is sharp one can spot the villain before the end of the book as all the clues are there in the text. The author keeps nothing back for the bafflement of his reader. I bought this one because its advertising compared it to Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie. Sad to say, not true. The craftsmanship of the writing is superb; each image is painted in jewel-toned colors. The immediacy of the text draws the reader instantly into Victorian Istanbul with first-person narrative, extracts of personal letters and the use of "Kamil sees" instead of "Kamil saw". Paragraphs of description are delights instead of tedium. Where it all falls down is the plot. The author becomes involved with one character to the exclusion of caring about the others. Once that side story is finished, the loose threads are left hanging for them all. It's like a beautiful Ottoman carpet woven perfectly until the last edge, then it is ripped off the loom and left jagged and unraveling. Perhaps the author intends a sequel? I'm afraid I won't buy it.