The Sultan's Seal

This mystery is set in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire.

When the nude body of an English governess is washed up a bank of the Bosporus River it is up to the local magistrate, Kamil Pasha, to investigate.

He determines that she was murdered, and discovers a possible link to the death of another English governess eight years prior. Both women were wearing a distinctive necklace inscribed with Chinese pictographs and an authentic seal of the Sultan's, which very few people would have access to.

Kamil Pasha is aided in his investigations by police surgeon Michel Sevy, and by the British Ambassador's daughter, Sybil.

I found this book to be one of the best mysteries I've read in a while. I especially found the political intrigue absorbing, show more while the mildly romantic vein made it entertaining. It seemed a bit different from the usual mystery I read, but refreshingly so. show less

The mystery was fairly light-weight and slow for the first two-thirds of the book. By itself, I don't think it sustains the reader's interest. I kept waiting for the author to reveal the complex plot taking place among the courts of the sultan and his harem...a plot that would be, given the setting, Byzantine. It never materialized. Instead we got a couple of small, straightforward explanations that limped to a conclusion that, though plausible, was somewhat less than convincing.

On the positive side, the setting of Ottoman-era Turkey was quite enjoyable. The subplots of individuals' conflict between the values of the East and West, the intrigue among the various factions of the imperial court, the espionage and intrigue between the show more government and the revolutionaries I found fascinating reading. This cultural picture saves the book from a 2 star rating. show less

3.5 stars

For the first 3/4s of the book this was an elegant mystery, rich in cultural and historical detail. At the end, however, the author chose to pile on the action and everything seemed to be happening at once, not always in a coherent fashion. If it wasn't for that I would have liked to rate this book higher. Jenny White has written numerous non-fiction works on Turkish politics and society, so I expected a lot of cultural and historical detail, and I certainly wasn't disappointed on that score. I did enjoy the description of the customs and mores of 19th century Turkey, the characters were interesting and believable, with the main character, Kalim Pasha, cutting a particularily dashing figure. The book is told from 3 different show more perspectives, which worked extremely well for me. I was disappointed to find that there was no glossary, which would have been helpful, given the amount of Turkish words used, although of course one could guess most of them. I'll be reading the next book in the series. show less

The Sultan's Seal is Jenny White's first work of fiction. Set in Instanbul during the decline of the Ottoman Empire, she presents a detective novel with some nice twists, and all the trimmings of the late 19th century Ottoman society. She works several story lines, but with different timelines which can be a bit confusing. But stay with her - because her works improve over time!

Istanbul at the end of the nineteenth century was apparently a hotbed of discontent, as certain elements worked to overthrow the sultan and reintroduce Parliament. Kamil, the magistrate, is assigned to solve the murder of an English governess, the second in several years. At the same time, Sybil, the daughter of the British ambassador, determines to help Kamil while quite falling for him. And the third story is of Jaanan, a young Turkish society woman with mixed romantic notions.

The mystery kept me reading but other than that I felt as though I was being given a history lesson.

06/05/07-09/05/07
A compulsive read. Fast-paced thriller set in C19 Istanbul where traditional Turkish society and politics meet incoming Western influences. Finely drawn sympathetic characterisation. Murder mystery at its best.