Mamur Zapt

"Dobson's obvious knowledge of, and respect for, mystery and detective fiction is immense. She takes the reader on a glorious tour, describing everything from comic books to anthologies. Even the most moral mystery fans will understand why a person would want to purloin even one or two of these treasures."-Publishers Weekly In classic noir tradition, English Professor Karen Pelletier gains a client when a Rottweiler named Trouble and his famous private-eye-novelist owner walk through her door. The next thing you know, the Enfield library is missing a truckload of its treasures. Then a thief is found dead in the stacks, his neck broken. With a real private eye on the case, the hunt is on-for the manuscript of Hammett's famous novel, The Maltese Falcon; for the missing books; and for potential murder suspects.

Night Kill is a mystery set in fictional Finley Memorial Zoo in Vancouver, Washington, seen from an insider perspective on the challenging and dangerous world of zoo keeping. Iris Oakley, a young zookeeper, hopes to reconcile with her husband after he promises to quit drinking. But he's soon found dead drunk and just plain dead in the lion exhibit. A paralyzing mix of grief and anger at his betrayal keep Iris from questioning the assumptions around his death. Her co-workers are soon convinced that she is unhinged by losing Rick, but friends inadvertently motivate Iris to prove that her husband could not have died the way it appears. These same friends impede her progress as she follows ambiguous clues and sorts through unlikely motives. Meantime, Iris must adjust to losing her beloved job as feline keeper and instead learn to be a bird keeper. The veterinarian respects her skills, but the foreman, her boss, would far rather she get a job elsewhere, and the senior bird keeper seems to agree. After Iris survives a series of near-fatal "accidents," the behavior of a lioness and the death of a penguin at last make clear what happened the night Rick died and who fed him to the lions. Then Iris has to survive to prove it.

Pru Marlowe isn't your ordinary animal psychic. A tough girl on the run from her own gift, Pru left the big city to return to her picturesque Berkshires hometown looking for a little peace. Too bad that her training as an animal behaviorist got her mixed up with Lily, a rescue dog, and Charles, her person. Now Charles is dead, and Lily looks good for it. After all, Lily is a pitbull, a fighting-ring dropout, and way too traumatized to give Pru a clear picture of what she has witnessed. But Pru knows something about bad girls trying to clean up, and, with a sense of justice strong enough to overcome her dislike of human society, she takes the case. Listening to the animals, Pru picks up clues-and learns there are secrets in the pretty little town that make murder look simple. Unable to tell anybody about her psychic abilities, uncertain at times about her own sanity, Pru comes to realize that if she clears Lily, she'll likely become the prime suspect-or the next victim. While the only creature she can totally trust is her crotchety tabby Wallis, Pru's got to uncover the real killer-and find a way to live with her gift-before the real beasts in the town savage her and those she has come to love. The first in the Pru Marlowe "pet noir" series.

"This is a book I didn't want to end. I dreamed about the characters for days afterward." -TESS GERRITSEN, New York Times bestselling author of Last to Die We know Medea killed her children.... Or do we? In Medea, Kerry Greenwood breathes fresh life into the age of heroes and rescues a woman wronged by ancient playwrights and history. As priestess of Hekate, Princess Medea protects the sacred grove holding the Golden Fleece and bones of an old king. Jason arrives determined to acquire both and rule the land. The king sets up challenges which Jason must conquer to earn the throne. But Jason's gentian blue eyes and hair bright as gold thread obsess Medea-"here is love, here is joy"-compelling her to help him. When the king breaks his word and seeks to kill the two, they escape together. Through Medea's royal line, Jason becomes king of Corinth, swearing always to love his wife and queen. But his allegiance is fleeting. Medea has sacrificed home, family, goddess, and innocence for the "melting, fiery loving" she feels for him. What comes next? The answer lies in this compelling story of tragedy, vengeance, exile, grief, and an oracle's response to one returning to worship the dark after having fallen in love with the light.

A fascinating historical mystery by Sulari Gentill, author of #1 LibraryReads pick The Woman in the Library "This book has it all: intrigue among the British aristocracy, the Nazi threat and a dashing Australian hero. I didn't want it to end!" -Rhys Bowen, New York Times bestselling author Handsome, wry, and witty despite his impeccable manners, and the dedicated black sheep of his conservative, wealthy Australian family, Rowland Sinclair prefers to leave managing the immense family fortune and politics to his elder brother, Wil, while pursuing a life as a gentleman artist. A life in company of boho housemates Clyde, a fellow painter; Milton, a plagiarising poet; and Edna, the beautiful, emancipated sculptress who is both his muse and the (unacknowledged) love of his life. Having barely escaped 1933 Germany while reluctantly pursuing an off-the-books mission in Munich, the usually stoic Rowly remains horrified and deeply troubled by the changes that have come about under the Nazi government. For the first time he is moved to take a stance politically, to try and sway the political thought of the time. A friend of the Left and son of the Right, Rowland doesn't really know what he is doing, or what should be done, but he is consumed with a notion that something should be done. Plus he needs to recuperate. And so Rowly and his friends make for England, where a British aristocrat is soon found murdered in his club, dressed in a negligée impaled by a sword. It's too bizarre a death for a gentleman. His murder, and the suspicion falling on his young niece, quickly plunge the Australians into a world of trouble. Featuring the dark underbelly of the, British aristocracy, fascists, illicit love, scandal, and spies, as well as players like H.G. Wells and Winston Churchill, this Rowland Sinclair WWII Mystery will appeal to fans of Rhys Bowen, Kerry Greenwood, and Jacqueline Winspear.

Cairo, 1910. Captain Owen, The Mamur Zapt, is the head of Egypt's Political CID in the heyday of British Rule. He is ultimately responsible for law and order in the Khedive's Cairo. When the rules, whether obvious or hidden, are flouted, he steps into action - although it sometimes looks like he's merely stepped sideways, out of the way. Now it is the end of the boom, leaving banks beleaguered and borrowers in trouble whether the poorest land-working fellahin or the richest land-owning Pashas. Then a civil servant suspiciously dies at his desk. The whiff of corruption is in the air. Even Owen, who is supposed to be investigating the affair, appears to be living beyond his means. As he turns to such unlikely allies as the Grand Mufti, the local barber, and the Widow Shawquat, he penetrates to the heart of such sinister organizations as the Khedive's Agricultural Society. The rich are tricky, and money speaks louder than words, challenging Owen to use all his skills to stop the Camel of Destruction....

Discover the captivating treasures buried in the British Library's archives. Largely inaccessible to the public until now, these enduring classics were written in the golden age of detective fiction. "A first-rate job"-New York Times "A classic of the genre"-Guardian Horniman, Birley and Craine is a highly respected legal firm with clients drawn from the highest in the land. When a deed box in the office is opened to reveal a corpse, the threat of scandal promises to wreak havoc on the firm's reputation-especially as the murder looks like an inside job. The partners and staff of the firm keep a watchful and suspicious eye on their colleagues, as Inspector Hazlerigg sets out to solve the mystery of who Mr. Smallbone was-and why he had to die. Since its initial publication in 1950, Smallbone Deceased has been lauded as a perfect British mystery as well as a historical fiction bestseller. Written with style, pace, and wit, this is a masterpiece by one of the finest writers of traditional British crime books since the Second World War.

Herman Jackson has chosen St. Paul as his place of permanent exile from Detroit, where his former life as a bookie got too hot to hold. Now he leads a respectable, low-profile life as a bail bondsman, selling second chances to losers and looking over his shoulder. When a young woman named Amy Cox leaves Jackson a priceless antique violin as security for her brother's bail bond, it's really the beginning of an elaborate con game. But the game is barely underway when she is brutally murdered in front of Jacksons office. And for reasons that make no sense, the police are calling him the prime suspect. That is, unless he gives them the violin as evidence. With his criminal past, Jackson can't afford to be a prime suspect for jaywalking. But neither is he prepared to give in to extortion. Soon he is on the road and on the run, trying to solve Amy Cox's murder, pursued by one real and one crooked cop, a band of urban Gypsies who claim to have first rights to the violin, and an unknown killer who also wants Jackson dead. Nobody is who he claims to be, nothing is what it seems, and the violin, which is reputed to carry a 400-year-old curse, begins to take on a life of its own. While Jackson tries to sort it all out, the killing continues, and suddenly his old life back in Detroit doesn't look so dangerous at all.

"Refreshingly well-adjusted Kate is a competent and compassionate protagonist cozy fans will want to see a lot more of. Pet lovers will adore this." - Publishers Weekly In the second installment of this animal-themed cozy series, Dr. Kate Turner has one New Year's resolution: Stop finding corpses… All Dr. Kate Turner wants to do is get her life in order before ringing in the new year, but with bodies turning up left and right, she'll have to trust her own instincts-and those of her beloved animals-to stop a killer in their tracks. As the only veterinarian at Oak Falls Animal Hospital, Dr. Kate's life is complicated. She's swamped with hospital patients and house calls, a long-distance relationship with law student Luke Gianetti (that is less than perfect), and a handsome, flirtatious artist who sets his sights on her as his new muse. When the body of Sookie Overmann is found outside the community center after her organization seminar, the entire town is hunting for answers. All of Kates hopes of quietly ringing in the new year are lost and when the body of Sookie's assistant falls with the confetti at midnight, she has no choice but to sniff out the killer.

Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder Two mysteries of the kind John Bude does best, with well-drawn and authentic period settings and a satisfying whodunit structure, following the traditional rules and style of the Golden Age of the genre. Death in White Pyjamas: At the country home of Sam Richardson, a group of actors have gathered along with their somewhat sinister producer Basil Barnes, and a playwright whose star is rising in the drama scene. With competitive tension in the air between the three actresses, Clara, Angela and Deirdre, the spell is broken when Deirdre is found murdered in the grounds wearing, for some unknown reason, white pyjamas. Death Knows no Calendar: A shooting in a locked artist's studio. Four suspects; at least two of whom are engaged in an affair. An exuberant and energetic case for Major Boddy.

The world is changing around the Mamur Zapt, British Chief of Cairo's Secret Police. It's 1912 and there's a war on that no one's heard of. When an Italian man is murdered in the city's back streets, there is concern that this could be some kind of ethnic cleansing. "One of us" Morelli may have been, but was he "one of us" enough? And were the guns in his warehouse anything to do with it? Gareth Owen - the Mamur Zapt - has to find out fast. And then, as external pressures crowd in, other difficult questions arise. What is Trudi von Ramsberg really doing in Cairo? Not to mention that other noted traveller, Gertrude Bell, or the irritating little archaeologist, T.E. Lawrence? And why has the post of Khedive's Librarian suddenly become so important? As Cromer's Egypt gives way to Kitchener's Egypt, Morelli is not the only one who has problems over where his allegiance lies. Maybe the solution is for Owen to go to Zanzibar....

"Sure-footed plotting and easy banter make Ramsay's sixth Sheriff Ike mystery a brisk, entertaining read." -Kirkus Reviews On the same evening a body is left in Picketsville's urgent care clinic, a mysterious break-in occurs at the house of one of Callend University's faculty. Sheriff Ike Schwartz thinks both events might be connected to The Virgin of Tenderness, an icon in the faculty member's possession. Then, what appears to be a microdot is found on the icon. In an era of sophisticated cyber-encrypted information transfer, the presence of this bit of CIA nostalgia brings in Ike's friend Charlie Garland and the forces from Langley. Ike has no wish to engage with them or their problems. He has killers to apprehend-in spite of the meddling by government agencies. But there is more to these murders than meets the eye. A dead CIA agent and a rogue handler could trigger an international incident....

"Daniel's sharp, sardonic wit and insider's view of book industry foibles are sure to make this bibliomystery a hit."-Publishers Weekly STARRED review At the annual convention of the American Booksellers Association Convention, everything goes wrong. Julia Child's cooking demonstration in the Random House aisle blows up and catches fire. A top New York editor catches a pie in the face. Invitations to the most exclusive publisher's party are stolen and all the wrong people show up. Worse, Heidi Yamada, the world-famous poet, is found dead, spread over the late Elvis Presley's king-sized bed. It's all caught on film by a busy photographer from Publishers Weekly, a woman soon kidnapped. When the Las Vegas Police shrug their shoulders, Guy Mallon, Heidi's first publisher (and a discarded lover) wonders what to do. Poor Guy. He's a bookman from Santa Barbara who, despite Ross Macdonald and Sue Grafton, never felt inspired to be a sleuth, but he feels he owes it to Heidi. Besides, catching her killer may be his only chance to leave Las Vegas alive.... The Poet's Funeral is a romp rich with poetry, publishing, book collecting, and literary gossip. Its cast ranges from smalltime players to the famous Rock Bottom Remaiders. It's a story of ego, love, art, and murder during four hot days at the 1990 ABA.

The Mamur Zapt, head of Cairo's CID in the heyday of (the indirect) British rule, focused on political, not police, matters. With the bustling new century, the loosening of imperial ties, and the rise of nationalism, his was a busy office. The attempted assassination of a veteran politician raises the spectre of a major terrorist statement at the capital's principal religious festival where the faithful celebrate the Return of the Holy Carpet from Mecca. Easily navigating multiple nationalities, three principal languages, and four competing legal systems, not to mention the intricacies of shadow and actual governments, Captain Owen, the Welsh incumbent, bolsters the Mamur Zapt's office with the aid of a host of memorable characters.

"A lovingly detailed portrait of Egypt during the Great War. The result is a bit like a police procedural reimagined by Douglas Adams" Kirkus Reviews on The Bride Box Atbara, Sudan, 1913. A dead man is fished out of the River Nile. An accident – or something more sinister? A visiting Pasha from the Royal Household believes it was murder – and that he himself was the intended target. He insists that the Mamur Zapt, Head of the Khedive's Secret Police, escorts him on his return train journey to Cairo, for protection. It's to be an eventful voyage. Matters take an unexpected turn when the train is stranded in the desert following a sandstorm. With the help of English schoolboy Jamie Nicholson, the Mamur Zapt pursues his investigations, convinced that at least one of his fellow passengers has a secret to hide. And what was the Pasha really doing in that remote corner of the Sudan? Could the Mamur Zapt's deepest fears be true? Could he really be about to uncover a conspiracy against the British?

The kidnapping of an innocent schoolgirl throws a glaring light on the tensions and injustices of pre-War Egyptian society in this absorbing historical mystery. Cairo, Egypt, 1913. When schoolgirl Marie Kewfik is kidnapped, snatched away as she strolled through the bustling bazaars of the Souk, the Khedive insists that the Mamur Zapt, Head of the Secret Police, takes charge of the negotiations for her safe return. The Kewfiks are one of the wealthiest and most powerful families in Egypt but, as the Mamur Zapt discovers, not everyone thinks it's worth the trouble to secure the release of a mere girl. He also learns that there is more to Marie's kidnapping than meets the eye – and the subsequent fallout will shine a glaring light on the dangerous tensions running through Egyptian society.