A dark, gripping mystery by hugely talented crime writer Barbara Nadel

Summer in Istanbul is hot. The kind of heat that can drive even the sanest people a little crazy...

An elderly woman is found dead in a flat with the perfectly preserved body of a young man. In an ancient part of the Jewish quarter, two children are missing. Their father, an artist whose genius borders on insanity, only seems more driven in his work. And a raid on a Russian gangster yields nothing except the dead body of a girl he claims is his daughter. Could the connection to all cases lie in a macabre forgotten art? But Inspector Cetin Ikmen's worries aren't just work-related. His protégé, Suleyman, is going dangerously off the rails, threatening to compromise not just himself but months of painstaking investigation. Ikmen faces a complex case which threatens to rock the very fabric of Turkish society.

"Atmospheric, skilfully written and well plotted." - Time Out

"The consistency with which Nadel has delivered atmospheric, sharply characterized novels in her Istanbul-set series of Inspector Ikmen thrillers is nothing short of amazing.... This is Nadel at her best" - Good Book Guide