The First Book in the Inspector Ikmen Series

Tourist brochures present Istanbul as a glamorous, modern city, but the brochures don’t make much mention of Balat, a decrepit neighborhood of narrow, twisting alleys and crumbling tenements.

Until recently it was home to Leonid Meyer, a reclusive elderly Jew who, like many of his neighbors, came here long ago to escape one of Europe’s various bloodbaths. But Meyer’s refuge ultimately became his coffin, the carnage crowned with a gigantic swastika.

A racist murder?

Inspector Ikmen has his doubts, and begins tracking down the few people who might have known the old man, including a faded prostitute, a shadowy family of Russian emigrés, a despairing rabbi, and a high-strung young Englishman in the throes of erotic obsession. The first in a stunningly atmospheric new series from a writer who has deservedly been called “The Donna Leon of Istanbul.”

“Intriguing, exotic, exciting, and original” – Literary Journal (UK)

Ideal for fans of Michael Dibdin and Donna Leon

The second book in the Inspector Ikmen Series, with fascinating, disturbing echoes of Istanbul’s tragic relationship with its Armenian population circa World War I.

A beautiful young man has been found dead in one of the city’s neighborhoods. It’s sad, perhaps tragic, but it should also be a simple case: There are signs of drug abuse, rumors of prostitution, and a local family has reported a missing son.

Unfortunately, this is Istanbul, where few things are as simple as they appear, and the past has a way of intruding on the present. To unravel the riddle, the brandy-loving Inspector Ikmen will have to grapple not only with the residue of a century-old genocide, but also with an even older legacy that stretches back to the heyday of the Ottoman Empire.

“Even better than Nadel’s extraordinary first novel, Belshazzar’s Daughter”

– Evening Standard (UK)