First published 2006
Constantinople, 1836. The Ottoman sultan prepares to announce sweeping reforms to modernize his empire when a series of brutal murders rocks the imperial court. From deep within the forbidden quarters of Topkapi Palace, the ruler of the Black Sea and the White summons his most unusual investigator: Yashim the eunuch. Moving between the palace's opulent seraglios and Istanbul's crowded streets, Yashim hunts for the killer. He draws on help from an unlikely circle: a dyspeptic Polish ambassador, a transsexual dancer, and the Creole queen mother. The investigation points toward the Janissaries, the empire's former elite soldiers who were violently suppressed a decade earlier. If they have returned for revenge, their uprising could plunge the empire into chaos. Yashim must solve the murders before the fragile balance of power collapses entirely.
Genres: historical-fiction, mystery, thriller, 19th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, historical-setting, political-corruption
Setting: Constantinople, Istanbul, Topkapi Palace
Period: 1836
302 pages · Hardcover · Farrar, Straus and Giroux