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  • Location: Istanbul

Chemical Prison/Ottoman Cage (Inspector Ikmen 2)

Chemical Prison/Ottoman Cage (Inspector Ikmen 2)

Why a Booktrail?

2000s: A book with two titles set in the crumbling streets of Istanbul and a detective who has a unique insight and view on the goings on behind the city’s glitzy facade

  • ISBN: 978-0747262183
  • Genre: Crime, Mystery

What you need to know before your trail

Inspector Çetin Ikmen and forensic pathologist Arto Sarkissian work together in the Istanbul police force and have been friends since childhood. One case involves the death of a 21 year old they find the case very strange. The man in question has never been seen either entering or leaving the flat and in fact only an Armenian has been seen around the area. The victim shows some strange injuries too and appears to have been trapped in a cage before his death.

Arto is Armenian himself and starts to feel very uncomfortable about the case. The two men must deal with many issues as they investigate and forget their own qualms as they do so.

Travel Guide

In the old run down Jewish quarter of Istanbul, a strange man wanders the neighbourhood He chain smokes, drinks brandy on the job and has eight children. And that’s only the policeman.

But Cetin is good at his job and is bothered about this crime as is his friend and colleague Arto Sarkissian. This strange murder in a locked room in an appartment not far from the famous Topkapi palace becomes stranger as the investigation progresses.

This Istanbul is a melting pot of nationalities, life styles and of course religion. The city is changing and with it the tensions between old and new, Muslim and Christian, Turks and Armenians

“When the Ottoman sultans ruled the empire from their great palace of Topkapi,they were wont to collect numerous treasures, including many wives and concubines”

Turkey and Istabul themselves are major characters in the plot, Cetin is our guide to the police force there as he battles to solve crime with so many different issues he must remain aware of –  culturally and historically sensitive ones which all have an impact on his work. This journey takes us back into the old history of the city and its past – its Ottoman past with all the traditions and events which that entails. Using such unique history to solve a modern day murder brings the history and the modern city to life.

“Places like people, can be evil, Officer, and this is one of them”

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Twitter: @BarbaraNadel

Web: barbara-nadel.com

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