Review of Arabesk by Barbara Nadel (2000, Headline)

When the wife of one of Istanbul’s most popular Arabesk singers is poisoned and his baby daughter disappears, newly promoted Inspector Suleyman is put in charge of the case. The obvious suspect is the singer’s much older mistress, Tansu, an aging star prone to temper tantrums, though the presence of a neighbour with Downs Syndrome in the apartment is muddying the water. In addition, his mentor, Inspector Cetin Ikmen, although ill and notionally off work, can’t help meddling in the case, and one of his officers seems to have more loyalty to the singer than this boss. The third book in the Ikmen series, is as much about the religious make-up of Turkey as the mystery. Indeed, the mystery element is quite thin given the limited cast and the direction of the story. As such, the interest in the tale is driven by interactions between the characters and the sense of place than the mystery. Which works fine if you’re interested in the culture, politics and social relations of life in Turkey, and the interwoven personal lives of a small murder team, rather than simply wanting a compelling police procedural. And that worked just fine for me.

Review of Deep Waters by Barbara Nadel (Headline, 2002)

A young Albanian is found almost decapitated by the banks of the Bosphorus in Istanbul. His family are involved in a blood feud with another immigrant family and it appears he is the latest victim. His death means that it will need to be avenged, continuing on the fis. Inspector Cetin Ikmen’s investigation soon reveals some anomalies, however, such as the victim recently donated his kidney to a young, rich woman. He also discovers that his mother’s half of the family had been involved in a blood feud of their own, which requires the family history to be re-visited. As the tension builds between the feuding Albanian families, Ikmen and his team disrupt their plans and seek to identify the murderer.

Deep Waters is the fourth book in the Inspector Cetin Ikmen series set in Istanbul, Turkey (and the first I've read). This outing has a strong Albanian focus with Ikmen and his team investigating the blood feud between two Albanian families and its latest victim, while also exploring his own Albanian roots and the death of his mother. In addition, one strand of the story focuses on a rich, troubled family that have links to the young victim, and on the relationship between one of Ikmen’s aristocratic colleagues and an Irish/Turkish psychoanalyst. Indeed, as well as charting the murder investigation, the story focuses equally on the domestic lives of Ikmen and his team and the social and cultural aspects of Turkish life. The result is interesting and engaging tale, with a strong sense of cultural context and place. In my view, the storyline relies on too many of convenient relationships between police and non-police characters and there’s no great surprise in the resolution, but nonetheless it’s a captivating read. I’m looking forward to reading some of the other books to follow the characters evolving lives and learn more about the city and its people.

Review of Last Rights by Barbara Nadel (Headline, 2005)

1940 in London at the height of the blitz, undertaker and First World War veteran Francis Hancock’s nerves are in shreds.  Unable to descend into the shelters for fear of being buried alive, he wanders the streets in a dazed madness as the bombs fall all around him.  One night he comes across a man who claims to have been stabbed before staggering off.  Two days later, the man turns up in Hancock’s funeral parlour.  The police think he died from shock caused by a bomb blast, but Hancock discovers a small pinprick on his chest which he believes was created by a hat-pin.  Initially, the police are not interested, but after a post-mortem examination they arrest his wife, disbelieving her alibi and aware that she has a chequered history and possible 'bad blood', her mother having murdered her step-father with a hat-pin through the heart.  Hancock is not convinced of the woman’s guilt and having taken in her teenage daughter sets about trying to contact her estranged sisters and to discover who did kill the man.

Last Rights is a kind of a hard-edged cozy: undertaker, Francis Hancock, turns amateur detective, investigating a murder when the police do not at first seem interested, continuing when he feels that they have arrested the wrong person.  The edge is provided by the blitz, working class conditions, prostitution and the black market, and some unsavoury characters.  The story unfolds at a reasonable clip and Nadel’s style is quite engaging.  There is some nice contextualisation with respect to the blitz and the Jewish community in London, the sense of place is quite strong, and the characterisation and familial relations are well realised.  Where the book suffers is with respect to the plot.  The premise is interesting but the execution is weak and contrived at times and the killer is somewhat obvious from a long way out.  There were a number of elements of the story that I just simply did not believe, not least the actions of the police, which made little sense.  Overall, the makings of a good series, but this opening story was undermined by an improbable plot.

3 stars