An Oriental Murder by Jane Bastin - Book Tour
An
Oriental Murder
The
Pera Palas hotel in Istanbul, Turkey plays host to the Agatha Christie Writers’
Congress when real life imitates fiction. The bodies of the Prime Minister and
his occasional mistress are found dead in one of the hotel’s locked rooms
surrounded by bodyguards. Seemingly, no one could get in or out, and yet…
Inspector
Sinan Kaya is convinced that foreign agents are culpable, and that the murders
are linked to the recent spate of killings of Turkish government officials.
Within
this complicated, crime riddled city, Sinan Kaya’s moral compass never falters.
Not concerned with threats of dismissal from the force, he cuts his own path
through the investigation, determined to uncover the truth.
An Oriental Murder is a tale of espionage and murder
set against the backdrop of beautiful Istanbul, the ancient city where east and
west meet.
Excerpt
Chapter 2: the murder of the Prime Minister has taken
place in a locked, guarded room in the Pera Palas hotel, Istanbul. Inspector
Sinan Kaya displays his trademark preference for good food before the demands
of a case. However, he also demonstrates the ways in which he draws on the
history of the city to help him solve the myriad of clues that he encounters.
Bea, the daughter of the founder of the Agatha Christie authors’ congress has
set her sights on Inspector Sinan Kaya. He is attractive with very little
awareness of this and Bea, a novelist specialising in detective fiction, leaps
at the opportunity to ensnare him.
The reception for the authors’ congress was well underway. Mutterings
of a double murder floated amid the crowd lending a frisson of excitement to
their world of make-believe crime. Sinan had no intention of staying. He knew
he could interview the occupants of the hotel the next day but the woman with
the copper-coloured hair and the long black dress stood by the birdcage lift
and held out her hand.
“Bea Schilller. You must be Inspector Sinan Kaya.”
Sinan opened his mouth to speak but she continued.
“I have heard so much about you. You really are as dashingly good
looking in the flesh as they described in the write up about the Sultan
Suleyman incident.”
Sinan had little self-consciousness. He rarely felt embarrassment. He
knew that he was good at his job. No, not simply good but exceptionally good.
If people wanted to comment on this, that was fine. But this copper-coloured
woman. This Bea Schiller caught him off guard. Close up, her resemblance to Ani
was less but she still had an air of something… familiar. He was silent.
“Please, let me get you dinner. The congress will finish their
reception drinks in a minute and then dinner will be served. Please join me.”
On a conscious level Sinan felt the need to distance himself but the
softness of her hand and the hunger in his stomach led him to the large dining
hall.
Gold-plated candelabras lined the long, linen-draped tables. Waiters
darted in and out of guests swaying in from the drinks reception. Sinan drank a
large gulp of ice cold water. He closed his eyes as he felt the cold hit the
nerve endings at the back of his throat. Plates of mezes, yoghurt with herbs,
spicy tomatoes, broad bean puree and fried octopus were placed in front of each
of the guests. Bea pulled her chair closer to Sinan.
“We American women are pretty forward, you know. Sorry about that. Hope
I’m not intimidating you?”
Sinan took another gulp of water and spoke without meeting her gaze.
“Not at all. It’s a pleasure to be asked to eat with a beautiful
woman.” As he said the words, he remembered his promised date with Zeynep from
the fraud department.
“So, do you think you know how the two bodies were killed? A classic
locked room scenario, wouldn’t you agree?”
“I’m not sure about agree but it looks odd. You know when Sultan Mehmet
II took the city of Constantinople from the Byzantines it looked to be an
impossible task. But he waited, bided his time, sized up the barriers and
struck in the least expected way at the least expected time.”
“Fascinating. So, a kind of locked room scenario for the whole of the
city.”
“Yes. But there was, as there always is – unless you believe in magic –
a solution.”
“So, what did this Sultan Mehmet II do?”
“In 1453 he besieged the city with troops and ships for fifty-three
days. He was only twenty-one years old but sniffed the scent of a wounded
empire. There was no apparent way to get his ships into Istanbul along the
Golden Horn. The Byzantines had set up a series of chains that effectively
blocked any ship’s entrance. So Mehmet ordered a road of oiled logs to be set
up on the hill at Galata.”
Sinan waved his hand in the direction of the door as though this
explained where the nearby district of Galata was.
“And?” prompted Bea, ducking beneath Sinan’s hand.
“And, well… he was the sultan and he ordered hundreds of men to haul
the boats up the hill on the oiled logs and deposited them in the Golden Horn.
He couldn’t reach it by sea. It was a locked city. But he found a way in.”
Bea cradled her chin in her upturned palms and stared. Sinan looked at
his fried octopus, the flesh was slightly warm, he thought, before placing a
large forkful in his mouth. Bea laced her fingers together, leant across the
table and whispered,
“The spider weaves the
curtains
in the palace of the
Caesars
The owl calls the watches
in the
towers of Afrasiab.”
Sinan looked up and smiled. Just as he was about to reply, an elderly
woman festooned in scarves towered over Bea.
“Inspector Sinan, my mother – Agatha Schiller.”
Author
Bio – Jane is a storyteller, writer, traveller and educator. Having
lived and worked for over thirty years in Turkey, Jane has amassed a breadth of
experiences that have led to the writing of the Sinan Kaya series of novels. Of
course all characters and events are fictitious!
Fluent in both English and Turkish, Jane writes in both
languages and has had a range of articles published in Turkish periodicals and
magazines alongside British newspapers.
Jane now divides her time between rainy Devon and sunny Turkey.
Social
Media Links – https://twitter.com/JaneJanebastin
0 Comments
Please try not to spam posts with the same comments over and over again. Authors like seeing thoughtful comments about their books, not the same old, "I like the cover" or "sounds good" comments. While that is nice, putting some real thought and effort in is appreciated. Thank you.