"Jason Goodwin has unleashed his talent on a series of mysteries set in nineteenth-century Istanbul and starring the unlikeliest and most engaging of detectives: Yashim the eunuch." "The Janissary Tree is the first in the series, and the year is 1836. Europe is modernizing, and the sultan of the Ottoman Empire feels he has no choice but to follow suit. But just as he's poised to announce sweeping political change, a wave of murders threatens the fragile balance of power in his court. Who is behind the killings? Deep in the Abode of Felicity, the most forbidden district of Topkapi Palace, the sultan - ruler of the Black Sea and the White, ruler of Rumelia and Mingrelia, lord of Anatolia and Ionia, Romania and Macedonia, Protector of the Holy Cities, steely rider through the realms of bliss - announces, "Send for Yashim."" "Leading us through the palace's luxurious seraglios and Istanbul's teeming streets, Yashim places together the clues. He is not alone. He depends on the wisdom of a dyspeptic Polish ambassador, a transsexual dancer, and the Creole-born queen mother. He manages to find sweet salvation in the arms of another man's wife (this is not your everyday eunuch!). And he introduces us to the Janissaries. For four hundred years, they were the empire's elite soldiers. But they grew too powerful, and ten years earlier the sultan had them crushed. Are the Janissaries staging a brutal comeback? And if they are, how can they be stopped without throwing Istanbul into political chaos?"--BOOK JACKET. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Goodwin, the author of a well-received history of the Ottoman Empire, Lords of the Horizons (1999), makes a welcome shift to fiction with this impressive first of a new mystery series set in the empire's declining decades. In 1836, though the corrupt elite troops known as the Janissaries were crushed 10 years earlier, there are ominous signs that their influence still persists in the twisted alleys and secret places of Istanbul. A series of crimes, including the barbaric murders of several soldiers and the theft of some precious jewels, leads eunuch Yashim Togalu to delve into the past in an effort to separate legend from truth. With special access to all areas of the sultan's royal court, Yashim uses his network of contacts to try to solve the crimes. The author, no surprise, does an excellent job of evoking his chosen locale. While his sleuth's character may be less developed than some readers might wish, no doubt Yashim will emerge as a more rounded figure in future entries of what one hopes will be a long-running series. (May) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

For hundreds of years, the Janissaries served the Ottoman sultans as a loyal and formidable fighting corps until their growing power enabled them to terrorize Istanbul. Eventually, they were overthrown in the the Auspicious Event of 1826, when the Sultans Western-trained New Guard killed thousands of them. Ten years later, eunuch Yashim Togalu wonders if, in fact, too many of them survived, as the grisly murders of four New Guard officers hint at an impending uprising. The head of the military drafts Yashim to unravel the mystery just as the sultan commands him to investigate the disappearance of his mothers jewels and the death of a young woman. Yashim traverses the dangerous and convoluted thoroughfares of ancient Istanbul, assisted by an assortment of characters that includes the Polish ambassador, a transsexual dancer, and the wife of a Russian prince. In this first book in a new series, Goodwin (Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire) infuses his narrative with cultural and historic detail. Academic libraries owning Goodwins nonfiction and public libraries with fans of mysteries set in unusual locales should consider adding this evocation of a complex society to their collections, though patrons may need to supplement their reading with a brush-up on Ottoman history. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 1/06.] Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State Univ., Mankato Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State Univ., Mankato Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Historian Goodwin, author of Lords of the Horizons (1999), introduces a promising new mystery series set in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire. When a string of murders disturbs the tenuous tranquility of the sultan's royal court, savvy eunuch Yashim Togalu is called upon to investigate. Digging deeper into the past in order to understand the perils of the present, Yashim discovers a link between the crimes and the Janissaries, a disloyal band of elite soldiers banned by the sultan ten years earlier. As Yashim wends his way in and out of the opulent palace and through the sordid back alleys of nineteenth-century Istanbul, the reader is treated to an appropriately exotic tour of a time and a place where intrigue, deceit, and corruption fueled perilous personal and political passions. MargaretFlanagan. From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.