As the second installment in Grimwood's Arabesk trilogy,
EFFENDI follows Ashraf (Raf) Bey, now chief of detectives
in glittering El Iskandryia; a 21st century Ottoman Empire
akin to our present day Middle East, complete with madersa,
horse-drawn calechès, djinn and daily calls to prayer.
Hamzah Effendi is going to be tried for murder, and Raf is
to prosecute him. Zara, Raf's discarded ex-fiancée is set
to defend her father. This time, not even the fox can
smooth things over for Ashraf Bey. No one but Raf hears the
fox, but Hani, his niece, seems to understand its existence
better than any child should.
With a flurry of interesting characters, EFFENDI is a
miasmic experience and definitely worth a read. A series of
flashbacks to a holy war fought by children forms the
backbone of this marvelous book. Graphic accounts of serial
murders are interspersed to leave a reader wondering who
could be committing such grisly crimes, and asking why the
modus operandi for each murder keeps changing.
It’s the twenty-first century and El Iskandryia — an
alluring metropolis built on seduction, corruption, and
lies — is the double-dealing heart of an Ottoman Empire
that still rules the world. But these days a sense of dread
hangs over El Isk — and over Ashraf Bey, the city’s new
Chief of Detectives. A trial is set to take place, and it’s
up to Raf to decide the case. There’s only one problem: the
suspect is the billionaire father of the woman Raf should
have married.
Industrialist Hamzah Effendi is accused of crimes so
horrible that even El Iskandryia wants him eliminated. But
Raf finds that protecting the sensual and impetuous Zara
Quitrimala from the secrets of her father’s past may be
even more dangerous. For Raf must now solve a series of
brutal murders that are somehow connected to the case — and
to Zara. And the closer Raf gets to the truth, the more
elusive the answers become — and the closer he comes to his
own demise...
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