October 1940. The London borough of West Ham is in the grip of yet another night of bombing, and undertaker Francis Hancock is in the grip of yet another night of temporary insanity.A veteran of World War One, Francis is forced by the nightly air raids to relive the trauma of the trenches, and al...
This story is based in Istanbul, and follows in the footsteps of Inspector Cetin Ikmen and his Sergeant Mehmet Suleyman as they try to solve the mystery of an old Jewish man who has been murdered in a most horrific way. The twists and turns include interviewing an old Russian woman who never seem...
A man's body, virtually decapitated, is found by the Bosphorus. His identity card names him as Rifat Berisha, an Albanian. The family is impenetrable but when Inspector Cetin Ikmen, whose mother was Albanian, consults his cousin, Samsun, he's left in little doubt that Berisha's death is likely to...
In the dark days of the Blitz, crime goes undercover... Undertaker Francis Hancock has seen the worst that humanity can do to itself. Why then does the murder of a young gypsy girl in Epping Forest move him so much? Travellers, gypsies, the homeless, deserters and German spies inhabit this stret...
The body of a teenage girl is discovered in a cistern deep below the city of Istanbul. For the Turkish police force's most talented officer, Inspector Çetin Ikmen, this is a difficult case. The girl was his daughter's friend and her attire, that of a nineteenth-century Ottoman, offers no easy exp...
A naked teenage girl is found dead near the beautiful Byzantine Yoros Castle in Turkey. She has stabbed herself through the heart but there is evidence of bizarre sexual practice. In another part of Istanbul, a young boy sems to have committed suicide in similar circumstances. What dark rituals c...
This is the 6th book in the series featuring Inspector Çetin Ỉkmen of Istanbul, but the first I've read. Ỉkmen is in his mid-fifties and his mother, an Albanian, was known as the witch of Uskudar. Ỉkmen is said to have inherited her abilities. Here, Ỉkmen is investigating what appears to be a kid...
When the wife of one of Istanbul's best known popular singers is found dead and his baby daughter missing, the newly promoted Inspector Suleyman, scion of one of Turkey's most aristocratic families, finds himself plunged into the magnificently vulgar, overblown world of Arabesk music, dominated b...
A serial killer is stalking the streets of Istanbul, seemingly targeting gay men. A man is found dead in a hotel room, a single stab wound in his heart. Could he be a victim of the "Peeper?" Inspector Mehmet Suleyman is assigned to the case, and is shocked to discover that the victim's body has b...
Because of the risk of raids, Mrs Darling had apparently been in the habit of starting her circles early. ‘Oh blimey, we’re just about to go in now!’ she said as she hustled me impatiently into her house. ‘I thought you was coming earlier to speak to Esme.’ ‘I was,’ I said. ‘But I got caught up a...
Reflecting what Lieutenant Shalhoub had told İkmen and Süleyman, he said, ‘There’s a big Lebanese population in Detroit, mostly out at a suburb called Hamtramck. Cafés and restaurants with names like the Cedars and Beirut all over that area. It’s easy to get foodstuffs. Tahini, köfte, börek, bakl...
On the one hand she was a pious, covered village woman, the very image of respectability, but on the other? Nalan Senar wore far too much jewellery on and around her heavy clothing to be the ‘poor peasant’ she purported to be. In addition, her house, as well as being home to a very large dog, was...
Vi said as she flicked the ash from her cigarette out of the car window. “Nah.” She turned to face Tony Bracci. “Why not?” “Traffic wardens are hated but it ain’t necessarily boring, is it, guv?” They were on surveillance across the road from Pastor Iekanjika’s house in Silvertown. A bog-standard...
All Süleyman knew as he sat beside Taner as she wrestled her car over uncomfortably rutted road surfaces was that he was exhausted. After a night of very little sleep, he’d been up since the crack of dawn and now here he was powering on into the back of beyond where the only lights that could be ...
What would be, would be. Kismet – except that in this case fate was being given a helping hand. But the excitement of finding out who İkmen and Süleyman were going to accuse was growing and it was exquisite. It was just past two fifteen and the policemen and their little band of others were lost ...
As soon as the new and alarmingly young mayor of London had finished speaking, people all over the United Kingdom held their breath. What on earth would Graham say in response to that? ‘Oh, lord,’ Graham Amphill muttered as he looked wearily into camera four. ‘Oh, come on, Mr Üner, not that old a...
When darkness is complete there’s nothing to give you any clues. Sight was hopeless as a measure in this case and so it was, in a way, a good thing that some of my other senses started to take over. The fact that I felt wet was a starting point but it was the smell that really got to me. It was m...
Only Gonca’s eyes were dry, and that was because she’d known of her brother’s death for a long time. At intervals people came in from the community to pay their respects. They brought food, drink and cigarettes for the family, who they hugged to their chests and wished long lives. Şukru had been ...
Short, middle-aged and fat, with wiry black facial hair, his appearance belied his behaviour, which was frequently beyond what anyone would agree was outrageous. Süleyman’s wife, who had seen him several times over the years in and around İstiklal Street, described him as being ‘as camp as Christ...