Detective, polyglot, chef, eunuch--Investigator Yashim returns in this evocative Edgarยฎ Awardโwinning series set in Istanbul at the end of the Ottoman Empire
Istanbul, 1838. In his palace on the Bosphorus, Sultan Mahmud II is dying and the city swirls with rumors and alarms. The unexpected arrival of a French achaeologist determined to track down lost Byzantine treasures throws the Greek community into confusion. Yashim Togalu is discovered outside the French embassy, it turns out there is only one suspect: Yashim himself. As the body count starts to rise, Yashim must uncover the startling truth behind a shadowy society dedicated to the revival of the Byzantine Empire, encountering along the way such vibrant characters as Lord Byron's doctor and the Sultan's West Indiesโborn mother, the Valide. With striking wit and irresistible flair, Jason Goodwin takes us into a world where the stakes are high, betrayal is death--and the pleasure to the reader is immense.
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