THE SEAL OF THE SULTAN

These are times of conflict in Turkey. When the body of a Western woman wearing a piece of jewelry bearing the sultan's seal is found on the shores of the Bosphorus, Pasha Kamil, a magistrate of the newly secular courts, finds himself unable to solve the crime quickly. Set in remote Istanbul, this mysterious murder story unfolds against the cultural and historical backdrop of 19th-century Turkey, a society teetering on the brink of modernization and dissolution. Jenny White uses her experience in the East to bring to life a portrait of the dying Ottoman Empire, a world of eunuchs, harems, and intrigue.