The Sultan's Seal (Kamil Pasha Series #1)

by Jenny White

Overview

"A wonderful read…. An historical novel of the highest quality." —Iain Pears

Rich in sensuous detail, this first novel brilliantly captures the political and social upheavals of the waning Ottoman Empire. The naked body of a young Englishwoman washes up in Istanbul wearing a pendant inscribed with the seal of the deposed sultan. The death resembles the murder by strangulation of another English governess, a crime that was never solved. Kamil Pasha, a magistrate in the new secular courts, sets out to find the killer, but his dispassionate belief in science and modernity is shaken by betrayal and widening danger. In a lush, mystical voice, a young Muslim woman, Jaanan, recounts her own relationships with one of the dead women and her suspected killer. Were these political murders involving the palace or crimes of personal passion? An absorbing tale that transports the reader to nineteenth-century Turkey, this novel is also a lyrical meditation on the contradictory desires of the human soul.

Reading group guide included. Includes the first chapter of the next Kamil Pasha novel.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393329209
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	02/17/2007
Series:	Kamil Pasha Series , #1
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	366
Sales rank:	901,585
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Jenny White is the author of the Kamil Pasha series: The Sultan’s Sea (a finalist for the Ellis Peters Historical Crime Award), The Abyssinian Proof and The Winter Thief. She is a professor of anthropology at Boston University, specializing in Turkey.

What People are Saying About This

Diana Gabaldon

Intricate and subtle as a Turkish carpet, lush as silk upon the skin. . . . A fascinating and remarkably knowledgeable look at a society in flux, its very appealing characters caught between East and West, Islam and Christianity, and bound in a web of murder and treachery that only the lucky few may escape.

Editorial Reviews

"Set in nineteenth-century Istanbul, The Sultan’s Seal lingers in the mind like the strong, delightful smell of an incense you will remember the next time you catch it in the air."

Elif Shafak

"CSI goes Ottoman Empire…with readers easily transported back to those days when mystery and intrigue lurked around every corner."

Booklist (starred review)

"Intricate and subtle as a Turkish carpet, lush as silk upon the skin…A fascinating and remarkably knowledgeable look at a society in flux, its very appealing characters caught between East and West, Islam and Christianity, and bound in a web of murder and treachery that only the lucky few may escape."

Diana Gabaldon

Historical drama meets traditional murder mystery in this uneven but passionate debut. Istanbul in 1886 is in a state of enormous political and social unrest. Upper-class society has evolved a strange new stratum combining British expatriates, colonials and the clashing traditional and modern Turks, all struggling to find their place as the Ottoman Empire wanes. The citizens of Istanbul are leery of the bold and immodest behavior of the Englishwomen in their midst, but all are shocked when young Mary Dixon, governess at the imperial harem, is discovered brutally murdered. Few seem to have known the quiet, retiring Mary, but readers snatch a glimpse in the interwoven story of Jaanan, a young Turkish woman about to be forced into marriage to a man she hates and who has a strange connection to the murdered woman. The writing is lyrical and the characters enchanting, particularly Kamil Pasha, the region's magistrate, who finds himself entangled in the case. But the rich historical setting makes an uneasy match with the whodunit sleuthing; neither ends up being able to sustain the book, particularly given the placid pace of the investigation. (Feb.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

The naked body of a young Englishwoman washes ashore in Istanbul and the pendant around her neck connects her to the royal household and possibly to the murder of an English governess years earlier. Then Janaan, a young Muslim woman resisting an arranged marriage, slowly reveals her connections to both dead women. Magistrate Kamil Pasha has no idea where the investigation will lead, and despite his attempts to rely on scientific analysis, he must operate within a web of political and personal intrigues. As subplots intertwine, trust disintegrates until neither the book's characters nor its readers know who will betray whom. White brings extensive knowledge of Ottoman culture to her writing, but at times the amount of detail and number of characters overwhelm rather than clarify the plot. Although the mystery of the woman's death ultimately is revealed, many loose ends suggest either a sequel or a lack of attention to detail. This book will probably appeal more to fans of historical fiction than mystery readers. Despite its limitations, it is worth considering for public library collections, particularly because it holds the promise of strong successors. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 10/1/05.]-Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State Univ., Mankato Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

A Turkish murder mystery, love story and cultural/historical panorama, told from three points of view. White uses a dead body-drugged, drowned English governess Mary Dixon, who worked at the imperial court and is found floating in the Bosphorus-as the point of entry into this evocation of the waning days of the Ottoman empire, a world of eunuchs, harems, secret police, bath houses and bazaars, teetering on the brink of modernism and dissolution. Kamil Pasha, an Istanbul magistrate, has the task of investigating the crime. Thoughtful and honorable, Kamil works at a careful pace, assisted by a Jewish surgeon, Michel Sevy. During his enquiries he meets Sybil, the under-occupied daughter of the British ambassador, who joins the detection team, offering access to female members of society and the court who are off limits to Kamil. An interest inevitably develops between the magistrate and the Englishwoman. More exotic and complicated is the story of Jaanan, a well-born girl whose life is crammed with incident: She is raped by a prospective husband favored by her father; kidnapped by a cousin who has been forced into political exile and is also linked to another, earlier murder of a British governess; and was once propositioned by Mary Dixon who, it seems, was a lesbian. Although the story loses its way in a fog of exposition and overlapping intrigues, White's intelligent, sensuous writing marks a promising debut.

Kirkus Reviews