Belshazzar's Daughter (1999)

Since I read this for a book group I read it twice (otherwise I go so fast I tend to miss the details.) Would have given it 3 stars the first time, but liked it better upon re-reading. Beautifully written, love the characters of Inspector Ikmen and his constable Suleyman, just didn't care much for the other people, which was the way it was supposed to be. Also liked the fact that in the end you knew more than Ikmen, since you'd been hearing from the other characters, but still he was able to bring closure to the case. Ikmen lives in two worlds, where superstition and science meet, has realistic relationships with his father and his wife. I now need to read more in the series to find out whether Suleyman is able to escape his seemingly predestined fate. ( )

This mystery, set in Istanbul, Turkey, features Inspector Cetin Ikmen and Sergeant Mehmet Suleyman. The body of a Jewish man is found, having been horribly mutilated by sulfuric acid with a swastika of the man's own blood painted on the wall. An English teacher appears to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He thought he spotted his girlfriend in the area and fears that she may have committed the crime. The girl's grandmother and family does have a tie with the man as does a prominent businessman who is a known Nazi sympathizer. The puzzle is quite perplexing. I loved this novel for its writing and Turkish atmosphere for about two-thirds of the novel, then it started getting a bit far-fetched. There are some sexual scenes and some minor foul language that I would have preferred to not be included. Still, I liked the novel well enough that I would probably read the second one in the series. ( )

Mysteries set in Turkey by British-Turkish author Barbara Nadel. She wrote a whole series about inspector Ikmen. The series starts with Belshazzar's Daughter. Her books have all the qualities you want from a mystery novel, plus, they are very interesting! Not only the police protocol is different, but the motives for crime are often different, and the characters have flesh. What more do you want? The following books in this series are: A Chemical Prison, Arabesk, Deep Waters, Harem, Petrified, Deadly Web, Dance With Death, A Passion for Killing, Pretty Dead Things, River of the Dead. ( )

First Line: A room.

Çetin İkmen. There's not another policeman like him in the world. Traveling from case to police station to home with his endless supply of brandy and cigarettes, he's the father of eight (with the ninth shortly to appear) and the son of a man described as "an atheist, an anarchist, an intellectual snob and a libertine". Since his father also lives with İkmen and his family, it makes for a very interesting household.

İkmen and his young, handsome sergeant, Mehmet Suleyman, have been put in charge of the particularly gruesome murder of an old man in the ancient Jewish quarter of Istanbul. Since a huge swastika was drawn on the wall above the body in the victim's blood, lots of people show an interest in the case-- including the Israeli embassy. İkmen is under pressure to solve the case quickly to get everyone off his superior's back, but the wily inspector knows that everyone's favorite suspect, Englishman Robert Cornelius, isn't the right one. The way the man was killed speaks of a very personal motive, and İkmen won't rest until he puts all the clues and the evidence together.

İkmen is the most amazing policeman I've come across in all the police procedurals I've read. He does his best work loaded to the gills with brandy, nicotine and no sleep. He knows his superior is beneath contempt-- and doesn't hide it. The only thing that keeps him on the job is the fact that he's damned good at what he does.

Nadel wove a tale that left me reluctant to come up for air. She may be British, but she's been visiting Turkey for over twenty-five years, and she knows the country. The setting of Belshazzar's Daughter is a richly woven tapestry of history, culture, sights, smells, narrow ancient streets, honking car horns, and the babble of many voices.

She can make characters come to life within a single paragraph, and the cast she creates is absolutely wonderful. İkmen and his family take center stage, but even the single appearance of an elderly rabbi is so well drawn and touching that the old man will live on in my memory.

İkmen calls this the nastiest case he's ever worked on "because there was absolutely nothing to like about any of the people involved in it. For one reason or another they were all absolutely selfish." He's absolutely right. With its overtones of Nazi sympathizers, the purges following the Russian Revolution, and just plain insanity, there's not much to like about all the suspects in Belshazzar's Daughter.

That doesn't matter. What matters is that the history, the culture, and the country of Turkey came alive as I read. What matters is that I discovered a fantastic cast of characters to follow in this series of mysteries. And finally... what matters is that İkmen settled for nothing less than the truth, and justice was served.

I can't wait to get back to Turkey. ( )

The first in the Inspector Ikmen series, which follows the lives and times of an Istanbulli detective, his colleagues, and his large family. The city itself is a major character in the novel, which focuses on the weight of time and of the past -- a suitable topic for Istanbul. Inspector Ikmen, I found, is an appealing character, and his colleagues are interesting a well drawn. The plot, however, seemed a little over the top; is Istanbul still that multicultural? ( )