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A classic murder mystery from the award-winning Michael Pearce, in which The Mamur Zapt races to prevent an explosion of religious violence in the Cairo of the 1900s.
Cairo in the 1900s. When the body of a dog is discovered in a Coptic tomb - a Muslim insult that could spark an explosion among the Christian community - the Mamur Zapt, British head of Cairo's secret police, is called in to investigate.
Equally volatile is a command from an English Member of Parliament that the Mamur Zapt, Gareth Owen, show the MP's niece the sights of the city. When a dancing dervish is stabbed before the lady's very eyes, Owen begins to uncover a plot to set Cairo's ethnic communities at each other's throats...
About the author
Michael Pearce was raised in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, where his fascination for language began. He later trained as a Russian interpreter but moved away from languages to follow an academic career, first as a lecturer in English and the History of Ideas, and then as an administrator. Michael Pearce now lives in London and is best known as the author of the award-winning Mamur Zapt books.
Report
Praise for Michael Pearce:
'Elegantly and wittily narrated, with a good plot, colourful characters and an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Egypt of Cromer's time' The Times
'Pearce is a natural novelist ... a vanished world comes alive' Sunday Times
'Impeccable historical detail and entertaining dialogue make enjoyable reading' Sunday Telegraph
