false 368858 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277m/368858.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277s/368858.jpg
It’s the twenty-first century and El Iskandryia—an alluring metropolis built on seduction, corruption, and lies—is the double-dealing heart of an Ottoman Empire that still rules the world. But these days a sense of dread hangs over El Isk—and over Ashraf Bey, the city’s new Chief of Detectives. A trial is set to take place, and it’s up to Raf to decide the case. There’s only one problem: the suspect is the billionaire father of the woman Raf should have married.

Industrialist Hamzah Effendi is accused of crimes so horrible that even El Iskandryia wants him eliminated. But Raf finds that protecting the sensual and impetuous Zara Quitrimala from the secrets of her father’s past may be even more dangerous. For Raf must now solve a series of brutal murders that are somehow connected to the case—and to Zara. And the closer Raf gets to the truth, the more elusive the answers become—and the closer he comes to his own demise.…

“Raymond Chandler for the 21st century.” —Esquire
“All brilliant light and scorching heat...Grimwood has successfully mingled fantasy with reality to make an unusual, believable, and absorbing mystery."—Sunday Telegraph (London)

“If you’re not reading Jon Courtenay Grimwood, then you don’t know how subtle and daring fiction can be.” —Michael Marshall Smith, author of Spares and One of Us

“Fast, furious, fun and elegant, the Arabesk trilogy is one of the best things to hit the bookstores in a while.” —SFRevu




]]> 368858 6 2704923 2002 Effendi total:76|5:2|4:3|3:1|2:0|1:0| 76 300 108 6 109005 3.76 626 77 29945562 1407916 946122 0671773690 9780671773694 1 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179695769m/946122.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179695769s/946122.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/946122.Effendi_The_Second_Arabesk 3.70 10

18th October


Nine days before the Grand Jury met in an upstairs office at Champollion Precinct, Ashraf Bey sat through a warm Iskandryian evening, bombed out of his skull, at a pavement table outside Le Trianon, drinking cappuccino and listening to DJ Avatar wreak havoc on the words of a Greek philosopher.

The afternoon call to prayer had finished echoing from the mosque on Boulevard Saad Zaghloul and the bells from l'Eglise Copte had yet to begin. If it hadn't been for a sense of dread hanging over El Iskandryia, this could have been a Monday in October like any other.

Horse-drawn caliches, their brasses shined and wheel bosses polished, rumbled up the Corniche, from the fat seawall known as the Silsileh all the way north to Fort Qaitbey, where the ancient Pharos lighthouse once stood.

And at both ends of the sweeping Corniche, at Silsileh in the shadow of Iskandryia's famous library, and at Fort Qaitbey, groups of tourists watched as fishermen set hooks or mended and untangled nets, waiting for the evening tide.

It was a tourist who'd taken the taxi that stopped outside Le Trianon, with its window down and sound system up too loud, giving Raf the chance to hear the city's favourite DJ one more time.

"And remember . . ." Avatar's voice was street raw. "Rust never sleeps. Coming at you from the wrong side of those tracks, this for the Daddy, the Don . . ."

Most of Raf's officers thought DJ Avatar came up with SpitNoWhere on his own; if they thought at all, which Raf considered unlikely. So they happily stamped the corridors at Police HQ, humming along, not knowing that the unchopped original went, "In a rich man's house, there's nowhere to spit but his face."

Raf hadn't known that, at least not until recently, but the fox in his head did. And while the fox couldn't say why, the General's aide de camp had just delivered to Raf an engraving of hell, inscribed with the words, "At its centre hell is not hot." It had at least been able to identify the picture as late Victorian, unquestionably by Gustave Dore . . .

". . . ou know," said the fox, before all this happened. ". . . ese things, they occur."

The fox had a grin like the Cheshire cat, except that no cat ever owned so many teeth or carried its tail wrapped up round its shoulders like a stole. Come to that, few cats took afternoon tea at Le Trianon.

These things could have been Raf becoming Chief of Detectives by default, or his recent refusal to marry the daughter of a billionaire.

"Why?" Raf asked. "Why do they occur?"

But the fox didn't answer.

Sighing, Raf took a gulp of cold cappuccino to wash away the taste of cheap speed and fixed his gaze on the pedestrians who streamed past his cafe table, separated from the terrace where he sat by a silk rope and the assiduous attention of two bodyguards.

The only pedestrians to meet Raf's stare were those, mainly tourists, who didn't realize who he was. They just saw a blond young man in dark glasses, wearing an oddly old-fashioned suit, the kind with a high collar.

"Come on," said Raf, searching inside his head. "You can tell me."

He ignored his two guards, who looked at each other, then hurriedly looked away. Raf didn't doubt that they could see tears trickling from under his glasses, but he didn't much care either.

The fox was saying good-bye.

The beast had been dying for years. Its abilities limited by memory conflicts, failed backup and the fact that, these days, the animal could only feed on neon light.

Once Tiri had been state of the art. Feeding on daylight, infrared and ultraviolet, or so it told Raf. White light, black light--back then anything went. The fox sharpened Raf's reflexes, steadied his ne]]> 2002 4 0 false Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 12 10:28:02 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 12 10:28:35 -0700 2008 more...]]> 56891940 204408 368858 0553587447 9780553587449 5 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277m/368858.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277s/368858.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/368858.Effendi 4.00 61
It’s the twenty-first century and El Iskandryia—an alluring metropolis built on seduction, corruption, and lies—is the double-dealing heart of an Ottoman Empire that still rules the world. But these days a sense of dread hangs over El Isk—and over Ashraf Bey, the city’s new Chief of Detectives. A trial is set to take place, and it’s up to Raf to decide the case. There’s only one problem: the suspect is the billionaire father of the woman Raf should have married.

Industrialist Hamzah Effendi is accused of crimes so horrible that even El Iskandryia wants him eliminated. But Raf finds that protecting the sensual and impetuous Zara Quitrimala from the secrets of her father’s past may be even more dangerous. For Raf must now solve a series of brutal murders that are somehow connected to the case—and to Zara. And the closer Raf gets to the truth, the more elusive the answers become—and the closer he comes to his own demise.…

“Raymond Chandler for the 21st century.” —Esquire
“All brilliant light and scorching heat...Grimwood has successfully mingled fantasy with reality to make an unusual, believable, and absorbing mystery."—Sunday Telegraph (London)

“If you’re not reading Jon Courtenay Grimwood, then you don’t know how subtle and daring fiction can be.” —Michael Marshall Smith, author of Spares and One of Us

“Fast, furious, fun and elegant, the Arabesk trilogy is one of the best things to hit the bookstores in a while.” —SFRevu




]]> 2002 1 0 false Thu May 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu May 21 15:30:20 -0700 2009 Thu May 21 15:31:30 -0700 2009 16381058 943245 368858 0553587447 9780553587449 5 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277m/368858.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277s/368858.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/368858.Effendi 3.95 76
It’s the twenty-first century and El Iskandryia—an alluring metropolis built on seduction, corruption, and lies—is the double-dealing heart of an Ottoman Empire that still rules the world. But these days a sense of dread hangs over El Isk—and over Ashraf Bey, the city’s new Chief of Detectives. A trial is set to take place, and it’s up to Raf to decide the case. There’s only one problem: the suspect is the billionaire father of the woman Raf should have married.

Industrialist Hamzah Effendi is accused of crimes so horrible that even El Iskandryia wants him eliminated. But Raf finds that protecting the sensual and impetuous Zara Quitrimala from the secrets of her father’s past may be even more dangerous. For Raf must now solve a series of brutal murders that are somehow connected to the case—and to Zara. And the closer Raf gets to the truth, the more elusive the answers become—and the closer he comes to his own demise.…

“Raymond Chandler for the 21st century.” —Esquire
“All brilliant light and scorching heat...Grimwood has successfully mingled fantasy with reality to make an unusual, believable, and absorbing mystery."—Sunday Telegraph (London)

“If you’re not reading Jon Courtenay Grimwood, then you don’t know how subtle and daring fiction can be.” —Michael Marshall Smith, author of Spares and One of Us

“Fast, furious, fun and elegant, the Arabesk trilogy is one of the best things to hit the bookstores in a while.” —SFRevu




]]> 2002 5 0 false Sat Apr 12 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Feb 25 21:27:49 -0800 2008 Sat Apr 12 17:44:31 -0700 2008 more...]]> 27893209 1070534 368858 0553587447 9780553587449 5 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277m/368858.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277s/368858.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/368858.Effendi 3.95 76
It’s the twenty-first century and El Iskandryia—an alluring metropolis built on seduction, corruption, and lies—is the double-dealing heart of an Ottoman Empire that still rules the world. But these days a sense of dread hangs over El Isk—and over Ashraf Bey, the city’s new Chief of Detectives. A trial is set to take place, and it’s up to Raf to decide the case. There’s only one problem: the suspect is the billionaire father of the woman Raf should have married.

Industrialist Hamzah Effendi is accused of crimes so horrible that even El Iskandryia wants him eliminated. But Raf finds that protecting the sensual and impetuous Zara Quitrimala from the secrets of her father’s past may be even more dangerous. For Raf must now solve a series of brutal murders that are somehow connected to the case—and to Zara. And the closer Raf gets to the truth, the more elusive the answers become—and the closer he comes to his own demise.…

“Raymond Chandler for the 21st century.” —Esquire
“All brilliant light and scorching heat...Grimwood has successfully mingled fantasy with reality to make an unusual, believable, and absorbing mystery."—Sunday Telegraph (London)

“If you’re not reading Jon Courtenay Grimwood, then you don’t know how subtle and daring fiction can be.” —Michael Marshall Smith, author of Spares and One of Us

“Fast, furious, fun and elegant, the Arabesk trilogy is one of the best things to hit the bookstores in a while.” —SFRevu




]]> 2002 4 0 false Mon Jul 21 15:59:53 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 21 15:59:53 -0700 2008 35643968 1632013 368858 0553587447 9780553587449 5 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277m/368858.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277s/368858.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/368858.Effendi 3.95 76
It’s the twenty-first century and El Iskandryia—an alluring metropolis built on seduction, corruption, and lies—is the double-dealing heart of an Ottoman Empire that still rules the world. But these days a sense of dread hangs over El Isk—and over Ashraf Bey, the city’s new Chief of Detectives. A trial is set to take place, and it’s up to Raf to decide the case. There’s only one problem: the suspect is the billionaire father of the woman Raf should have married.

Industrialist Hamzah Effendi is accused of crimes so horrible that even El Iskandryia wants him eliminated. But Raf finds that protecting the sensual and impetuous Zara Quitrimala from the secrets of her father’s past may be even more dangerous. For Raf must now solve a series of brutal murders that are somehow connected to the case—and to Zara. And the closer Raf gets to the truth, the more elusive the answers become—and the closer he comes to his own demise.…

“Raymond Chandler for the 21st century.” —Esquire
“All brilliant light and scorching heat...Grimwood has successfully mingled fantasy with reality to make an unusual, believable, and absorbing mystery."—Sunday Telegraph (London)

“If you’re not reading Jon Courtenay Grimwood, then you don’t know how subtle and daring fiction can be.” —Michael Marshall Smith, author of Spares and One of Us

“Fast, furious, fun and elegant, the Arabesk trilogy is one of the best things to hit the bookstores in a while.” —SFRevu




]]> 2002 3 0 false Tue Apr 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Oct 18 14:24:28 -0700 2008 Sat Oct 18 14:28:01 -0700 2008 1 867442 66125 368858 0553587447 9780553587449 5 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277m/368858.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277s/368858.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/368858.Effendi 3.95 76
It’s the twenty-first century and El Iskandryia—an alluring metropolis built on seduction, corruption, and lies—is the double-dealing heart of an Ottoman Empire that still rules the world. But these days a sense of dread hangs over El Isk—and over Ashraf Bey, the city’s new Chief of Detectives. A trial is set to take place, and it’s up to Raf to decide the case. There’s only one problem: the suspect is the billionaire father of the woman Raf should have married.

Industrialist Hamzah Effendi is accused of crimes so horrible that even El Iskandryia wants him eliminated. But Raf finds that protecting the sensual and impetuous Zara Quitrimala from the secrets of her father’s past may be even more dangerous. For Raf must now solve a series of brutal murders that are somehow connected to the case—and to Zara. And the closer Raf gets to the truth, the more elusive the answers become—and the closer he comes to his own demise.…

“Raymond Chandler for the 21st century.” —Esquire
“All brilliant light and scorching heat...Grimwood has successfully mingled fantasy with reality to make an unusual, believable, and absorbing mystery."—Sunday Telegraph (London)

“If you’re not reading Jon Courtenay Grimwood, then you don’t know how subtle and daring fiction can be.” —Michael Marshall Smith, author of Spares and One of Us

“Fast, furious, fun and elegant, the Arabesk trilogy is one of the best things to hit the bookstores in a while.” —SFRevu




]]> 2002 4 0 false Tue Apr 24 16:37:17 -0700 2007 Tue Apr 24 16:45:18 -0700 2007 81929976 2242656 2679621 0743202856 9780743202855 0 http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2679621.Effendi_The_Second_Arabesk 3.80 5

18th October


Nine days before the Grand Jury met in an upstairs office at Champollion Precinct, Ashraf Bey sat through a warm Iskandryian evening, bombed out of his skull, at a pavement table outside Le Trianon, drinking cappuccino and listening to DJ Avatar wreak havoc on the words of a Greek philosopher.

The afternoon call to prayer had finished echoing from the mosque on Boulevard Saad Zaghloul and the bells from l'Eglise Copte had yet to begin. If it hadn't been for a sense of dread hanging over El Iskandryia, this could have been a Monday in October like any other.

Horse-drawn caliches, their brasses shined and wheel bosses polished, rumbled up the Corniche, from the fat seawall known as the Silsileh all the way north to Fort Qaitbey, where the ancient Pharos lighthouse once stood.

And at both ends of the sweeping Corniche, at Silsileh in the shadow of Iskandryia's famous library, and at Fort Qaitbey, groups of tourists watched as fishermen set hooks or mended and untangled nets, waiting for the evening tide.

It was a tourist who'd taken the taxi that stopped outside Le Trianon, with its window down and sound system up too loud, giving Raf the chance to hear the city's favourite DJ one more time.

"And remember . . ." Avatar's voice was street raw. "Rust never sleeps. Coming at you from the wrong side of those tracks, this for the Daddy, the Don . . ."

Most of Raf's officers thought DJ Avatar came up with SpitNoWhere on his own; if they thought at all, which Raf considered unlikely. So they happily stamped the corridors at Police HQ, humming along, not knowing that the unchopped original went, "In a rich man's house, there's nowhere to spit but his face."

Raf hadn't known that, at least not until recently, but the fox in his head did. And while the fox couldn't say why, the General's aide de camp had just delivered to Raf an engraving of hell, inscribed with the words, "At its centre hell is not hot." It had at least been able to identify the picture as late Victorian, unquestionably by Gustave Dore . . .

". . . ou know," said the fox, before all this happened. ". . . ese things, they occur."

The fox had a grin like the Cheshire cat, except that no cat ever owned so many teeth or carried its tail wrapped up round its shoulders like a stole. Come to that, few cats took afternoon tea at Le Trianon.

These things could have been Raf becoming Chief of Detectives by default, or his recent refusal to marry the daughter of a billionaire.

"Why?" Raf asked. "Why do they occur?"

But the fox didn't answer.

Sighing, Raf took a gulp of cold cappuccino to wash away the taste of cheap speed and fixed his gaze on the pedestrians who streamed past his cafe table, separated from the terrace where he sat by a silk rope and the assiduous attention of two bodyguards.

The only pedestrians to meet Raf's stare were those, mainly tourists, who didn't realize who he was. They just saw a blond young man in dark glasses, wearing an oddly old-fashioned suit, the kind with a high collar.

"Come on," said Raf, searching inside his head. "You can tell me."

He ignored his two guards, who looked at each other, then hurriedly looked away. Raf didn't doubt that they could see tears trickling from under his glasses, but he didn't much care either.

The fox was saying good-bye.

The beast had been dying for years. Its abilities limited by memory conflicts, failed backup and the fact that, these days, the animal could only feed on neon light.

Once Tiri had been state of the art. Feeding on daylight, infrared and ultraviolet, or so it told Raf. White light, black light--back then anything went. The fox sharpened Raf's reflexes, steadied his ne]]> 2002 0 0 false Thu Dec 24 03:12:47 -0800 2009 Thu Dec 24 03:12:47 -0800 2009 81512227 3058887 368858 0553587447 9780553587449 5 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277m/368858.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277s/368858.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/368858.Effendi 3.95 76
It’s the twenty-first century and El Iskandryia—an alluring metropolis built on seduction, corruption, and lies—is the double-dealing heart of an Ottoman Empire that still rules the world. But these days a sense of dread hangs over El Isk—and over Ashraf Bey, the city’s new Chief of Detectives. A trial is set to take place, and it’s up to Raf to decide the case. There’s only one problem: the suspect is the billionaire father of the woman Raf should have married.

Industrialist Hamzah Effendi is accused of crimes so horrible that even El Iskandryia wants him eliminated. But Raf finds that protecting the sensual and impetuous Zara Quitrimala from the secrets of her father’s past may be even more dangerous. For Raf must now solve a series of brutal murders that are somehow connected to the case—and to Zara. And the closer Raf gets to the truth, the more elusive the answers become—and the closer he comes to his own demise.…

“Raymond Chandler for the 21st century.” —Esquire
“All brilliant light and scorching heat...Grimwood has successfully mingled fantasy with reality to make an unusual, believable, and absorbing mystery."—Sunday Telegraph (London)

“If you’re not reading Jon Courtenay Grimwood, then you don’t know how subtle and daring fiction can be.” —Michael Marshall Smith, author of Spares and One of Us

“Fast, furious, fun and elegant, the Arabesk trilogy is one of the best things to hit the bookstores in a while.” —SFRevu




]]> 2002 0 0 false Sat Dec 19 16:22:28 -0800 2009 Sat Dec 19 16:22:28 -0800 2009 81365929 2917705 2679621 0743202856 9780743202855 0 http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2679621.Effendi_The_Second_Arabesk 3.95 76

18th October


Nine days before the Grand Jury met in an upstairs office at Champollion Precinct, Ashraf Bey sat through a warm Iskandryian evening, bombed out of his skull, at a pavement table outside Le Trianon, drinking cappuccino and listening to DJ Avatar wreak havoc on the words of a Greek philosopher.

The afternoon call to prayer had finished echoing from the mosque on Boulevard Saad Zaghloul and the bells from l'Eglise Copte had yet to begin. If it hadn't been for a sense of dread hanging over El Iskandryia, this could have been a Monday in October like any other.

Horse-drawn caliches, their brasses shined and wheel bosses polished, rumbled up the Corniche, from the fat seawall known as the Silsileh all the way north to Fort Qaitbey, where the ancient Pharos lighthouse once stood.

And at both ends of the sweeping Corniche, at Silsileh in the shadow of Iskandryia's famous library, and at Fort Qaitbey, groups of tourists watched as fishermen set hooks or mended and untangled nets, waiting for the evening tide.

It was a tourist who'd taken the taxi that stopped outside Le Trianon, with its window down and sound system up too loud, giving Raf the chance to hear the city's favourite DJ one more time.

"And remember . . ." Avatar's voice was street raw. "Rust never sleeps. Coming at you from the wrong side of those tracks, this for the Daddy, the Don . . ."

Most of Raf's officers thought DJ Avatar came up with SpitNoWhere on his own; if they thought at all, which Raf considered unlikely. So they happily stamped the corridors at Police HQ, humming along, not knowing that the unchopped original went, "In a rich man's house, there's nowhere to spit but his face."

Raf hadn't known that, at least not until recently, but the fox in his head did. And while the fox couldn't say why, the General's aide de camp had just delivered to Raf an engraving of hell, inscribed with the words, "At its centre hell is not hot." It had at least been able to identify the picture as late Victorian, unquestionably by Gustave Dore . . .

". . . ou know," said the fox, before all this happened. ". . . ese things, they occur."

The fox had a grin like the Cheshire cat, except that no cat ever owned so many teeth or carried its tail wrapped up round its shoulders like a stole. Come to that, few cats took afternoon tea at Le Trianon.

These things could have been Raf becoming Chief of Detectives by default, or his recent refusal to marry the daughter of a billionaire.

"Why?" Raf asked. "Why do they occur?"

But the fox didn't answer.

Sighing, Raf took a gulp of cold cappuccino to wash away the taste of cheap speed and fixed his gaze on the pedestrians who streamed past his cafe table, separated from the terrace where he sat by a silk rope and the assiduous attention of two bodyguards.

The only pedestrians to meet Raf's stare were those, mainly tourists, who didn't realize who he was. They just saw a blond young man in dark glasses, wearing an oddly old-fashioned suit, the kind with a high collar.

"Come on," said Raf, searching inside his head. "You can tell me."

He ignored his two guards, who looked at each other, then hurriedly looked away. Raf didn't doubt that they could see tears trickling from under his glasses, but he didn't much care either.

The fox was saying good-bye.

The beast had been dying for years. Its abilities limited by memory conflicts, failed backup and the fact that, these days, the animal could only feed on neon light.

Once Tiri had been state of the art. Feeding on daylight, infrared and ultraviolet, or so it told Raf. White light, black light--back then anything went. The fox sharpened Raf's reflexes, steadied his ne]]> 2002 4 0 false Mon Feb 06 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Thu Dec 17 22:32:10 -0800 2009 Thu Dec 17 22:32:24 -0800 2009 2 80737466 3035292 2679621 0743202856 9780743202855 0 http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2679621.Effendi_The_Second_Arabesk 3.95 76

18th October


Nine days before the Grand Jury met in an upstairs office at Champollion Precinct, Ashraf Bey sat through a warm Iskandryian evening, bombed out of his skull, at a pavement table outside Le Trianon, drinking cappuccino and listening to DJ Avatar wreak havoc on the words of a Greek philosopher.

The afternoon call to prayer had finished echoing from the mosque on Boulevard Saad Zaghloul and the bells from l'Eglise Copte had yet to begin. If it hadn't been for a sense of dread hanging over El Iskandryia, this could have been a Monday in October like any other.

Horse-drawn caliches, their brasses shined and wheel bosses polished, rumbled up the Corniche, from the fat seawall known as the Silsileh all the way north to Fort Qaitbey, where the ancient Pharos lighthouse once stood.

And at both ends of the sweeping Corniche, at Silsileh in the shadow of Iskandryia's famous library, and at Fort Qaitbey, groups of tourists watched as fishermen set hooks or mended and untangled nets, waiting for the evening tide.

It was a tourist who'd taken the taxi that stopped outside Le Trianon, with its window down and sound system up too loud, giving Raf the chance to hear the city's favourite DJ one more time.

"And remember . . ." Avatar's voice was street raw. "Rust never sleeps. Coming at you from the wrong side of those tracks, this for the Daddy, the Don . . ."

Most of Raf's officers thought DJ Avatar came up with SpitNoWhere on his own; if they thought at all, which Raf considered unlikely. So they happily stamped the corridors at Police HQ, humming along, not knowing that the unchopped original went, "In a rich man's house, there's nowhere to spit but his face."

Raf hadn't known that, at least not until recently, but the fox in his head did. And while the fox couldn't say why, the General's aide de camp had just delivered to Raf an engraving of hell, inscribed with the words, "At its centre hell is not hot." It had at least been able to identify the picture as late Victorian, unquestionably by Gustave Dore . . .

". . . ou know," said the fox, before all this happened. ". . . ese things, they occur."

The fox had a grin like the Cheshire cat, except that no cat ever owned so many teeth or carried its tail wrapped up round its shoulders like a stole. Come to that, few cats took afternoon tea at Le Trianon.

These things could have been Raf becoming Chief of Detectives by default, or his recent refusal to marry the daughter of a billionaire.

"Why?" Raf asked. "Why do they occur?"

But the fox didn't answer.

Sighing, Raf took a gulp of cold cappuccino to wash away the taste of cheap speed and fixed his gaze on the pedestrians who streamed past his cafe table, separated from the terrace where he sat by a silk rope and the assiduous attention of two bodyguards.

The only pedestrians to meet Raf's stare were those, mainly tourists, who didn't realize who he was. They just saw a blond young man in dark glasses, wearing an oddly old-fashioned suit, the kind with a high collar.

"Come on," said Raf, searching inside his head. "You can tell me."

He ignored his two guards, who looked at each other, then hurriedly looked away. Raf didn't doubt that they could see tears trickling from under his glasses, but he didn't much care either.

The fox was saying good-bye.

The beast had been dying for years. Its abilities limited by memory conflicts, failed backup and the fact that, these days, the animal could only feed on neon light.

Once Tiri had been state of the art. Feeding on daylight, infrared and ultraviolet, or so it told Raf. White light, black light--back then anything went. The fox sharpened Raf's reflexes, steadied his ne]]> 2002 5 0 false Sat Dec 12 01:30:18 -0800 2009 Sat Dec 12 01:30:18 -0800 2009 80183235 2919331 368858 0553587447 9780553587449 5 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277m/368858.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277s/368858.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/368858.Effendi 3.95 76
It’s the twenty-first century and El Iskandryia—an alluring metropolis built on seduction, corruption, and lies—is the double-dealing heart of an Ottoman Empire that still rules the world. But these days a sense of dread hangs over El Isk—and over Ashraf Bey, the city’s new Chief of Detectives. A trial is set to take place, and it’s up to Raf to decide the case. There’s only one problem: the suspect is the billionaire father of the woman Raf should have married.

Industrialist Hamzah Effendi is accused of crimes so horrible that even El Iskandryia wants him eliminated. But Raf finds that protecting the sensual and impetuous Zara Quitrimala from the secrets of her father’s past may be even more dangerous. For Raf must now solve a series of brutal murders that are somehow connected to the case—and to Zara. And the closer Raf gets to the truth, the more elusive the answers become—and the closer he comes to his own demise.…

“Raymond Chandler for the 21st century.” —Esquire
“All brilliant light and scorching heat...Grimwood has successfully mingled fantasy with reality to make an unusual, believable, and absorbing mystery."—Sunday Telegraph (London)

“If you’re not reading Jon Courtenay Grimwood, then you don’t know how subtle and daring fiction can be.” —Michael Marshall Smith, author of Spares and One of Us

“Fast, furious, fun and elegant, the Arabesk trilogy is one of the best things to hit the bookstores in a while.” —SFRevu




]]> 2002 0 0 false Mon Dec 07 11:05:31 -0800 2009 Mon Dec 07 11:05:31 -0800 2009 78828430 2048748 368858 0553587447 9780553587449 5 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277m/368858.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277s/368858.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/368858.Effendi 3.95 76
It’s the twenty-first century and El Iskandryia—an alluring metropolis built on seduction, corruption, and lies—is the double-dealing heart of an Ottoman Empire that still rules the world. But these days a sense of dread hangs over El Isk—and over Ashraf Bey, the city’s new Chief of Detectives. A trial is set to take place, and it’s up to Raf to decide the case. There’s only one problem: the suspect is the billionaire father of the woman Raf should have married.

Industrialist Hamzah Effendi is accused of crimes so horrible that even El Iskandryia wants him eliminated. But Raf finds that protecting the sensual and impetuous Zara Quitrimala from the secrets of her father’s past may be even more dangerous. For Raf must now solve a series of brutal murders that are somehow connected to the case—and to Zara. And the closer Raf gets to the truth, the more elusive the answers become—and the closer he comes to his own demise.…

“Raymond Chandler for the 21st century.” —Esquire
“All brilliant light and scorching heat...Grimwood has successfully mingled fantasy with reality to make an unusual, believable, and absorbing mystery."—Sunday Telegraph (London)

“If you’re not reading Jon Courtenay Grimwood, then you don’t know how subtle and daring fiction can be.” —Michael Marshall Smith, author of Spares and One of Us

“Fast, furious, fun and elegant, the Arabesk trilogy is one of the best things to hit the bookstores in a while.” —SFRevu




]]> 2002 4 0 false Tue Nov 24 03:10:21 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 24 03:10:21 -0800 2009 75619758 271326 368858 0553587447 9780553587449 5 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277m/368858.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277s/368858.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/368858.Effendi 3.95 76
It’s the twenty-first century and El Iskandryia—an alluring metropolis built on seduction, corruption, and lies—is the double-dealing heart of an Ottoman Empire that still rules the world. But these days a sense of dread hangs over El Isk—and over Ashraf Bey, the city’s new Chief of Detectives. A trial is set to take place, and it’s up to Raf to decide the case. There’s only one problem: the suspect is the billionaire father of the woman Raf should have married.

Industrialist Hamzah Effendi is accused of crimes so horrible that even El Iskandryia wants him eliminated. But Raf finds that protecting the sensual and impetuous Zara Quitrimala from the secrets of her father’s past may be even more dangerous. For Raf must now solve a series of brutal murders that are somehow connected to the case—and to Zara. And the closer Raf gets to the truth, the more elusive the answers become—and the closer he comes to his own demise.…

“Raymond Chandler for the 21st century.” —Esquire
“All brilliant light and scorching heat...Grimwood has successfully mingled fantasy with reality to make an unusual, believable, and absorbing mystery."—Sunday Telegraph (London)

“If you’re not reading Jon Courtenay Grimwood, then you don’t know how subtle and daring fiction can be.” —Michael Marshall Smith, author of Spares and One of Us

“Fast, furious, fun and elegant, the Arabesk trilogy is one of the best things to hit the bookstores in a while.” —SFRevu




]]> 2002 0 0 false Sat Oct 24 17:01:34 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 24 17:01:34 -0700 2009 75155937 2856233 368858 0553587447 9780553587449 5 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277m/368858.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277s/368858.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/368858.Effendi 3.95 76
It’s the twenty-first century and El Iskandryia—an alluring metropolis built on seduction, corruption, and lies—is the double-dealing heart of an Ottoman Empire that still rules the world. But these days a sense of dread hangs over El Isk—and over Ashraf Bey, the city’s new Chief of Detectives. A trial is set to take place, and it’s up to Raf to decide the case. There’s only one problem: the suspect is the billionaire father of the woman Raf should have married.

Industrialist Hamzah Effendi is accused of crimes so horrible that even El Iskandryia wants him eliminated. But Raf finds that protecting the sensual and impetuous Zara Quitrimala from the secrets of her father’s past may be even more dangerous. For Raf must now solve a series of brutal murders that are somehow connected to the case—and to Zara. And the closer Raf gets to the truth, the more elusive the answers become—and the closer he comes to his own demise.…

“Raymond Chandler for the 21st century.” —Esquire
“All brilliant light and scorching heat...Grimwood has successfully mingled fantasy with reality to make an unusual, believable, and absorbing mystery."—Sunday Telegraph (London)

“If you’re not reading Jon Courtenay Grimwood, then you don’t know how subtle and daring fiction can be.” —Michael Marshall Smith, author of Spares and One of Us

“Fast, furious, fun and elegant, the Arabesk trilogy is one of the best things to hit the bookstores in a while.” —SFRevu




]]> 2002 5 0 false Tue Oct 20 13:43:17 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 20 13:43:22 -0700 2009 74056334 2825615 368858 0553587447 9780553587449 5 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277m/368858.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277s/368858.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/368858.Effendi 3.95 76
It’s the twenty-first century and El Iskandryia—an alluring metropolis built on seduction, corruption, and lies—is the double-dealing heart of an Ottoman Empire that still rules the world. But these days a sense of dread hangs over El Isk—and over Ashraf Bey, the city’s new Chief of Detectives. A trial is set to take place, and it’s up to Raf to decide the case. There’s only one problem: the suspect is the billionaire father of the woman Raf should have married.

Industrialist Hamzah Effendi is accused of crimes so horrible that even El Iskandryia wants him eliminated. But Raf finds that protecting the sensual and impetuous Zara Quitrimala from the secrets of her father’s past may be even more dangerous. For Raf must now solve a series of brutal murders that are somehow connected to the case—and to Zara. And the closer Raf gets to the truth, the more elusive the answers become—and the closer he comes to his own demise.…

“Raymond Chandler for the 21st century.” —Esquire
“All brilliant light and scorching heat...Grimwood has successfully mingled fantasy with reality to make an unusual, believable, and absorbing mystery."—Sunday Telegraph (London)

“If you’re not reading Jon Courtenay Grimwood, then you don’t know how subtle and daring fiction can be.” —Michael Marshall Smith, author of Spares and One of Us

“Fast, furious, fun and elegant, the Arabesk trilogy is one of the best things to hit the bookstores in a while.” —SFRevu




]]> 2002 3 0 false Sat Oct 10 05:01:08 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 10 05:01:08 -0700 2009 70820809 2722570 946122 0671773690 9780671773694 1 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179695769m/946122.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179695769s/946122.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/946122.Effendi_The_Second_Arabesk 3.95 76

18th October


Nine days before the Grand Jury met in an upstairs office at Champollion Precinct, Ashraf Bey sat through a warm Iskandryian evening, bombed out of his skull, at a pavement table outside Le Trianon, drinking cappuccino and listening to DJ Avatar wreak havoc on the words of a Greek philosopher.

The afternoon call to prayer had finished echoing from the mosque on Boulevard Saad Zaghloul and the bells from l'Eglise Copte had yet to begin. If it hadn't been for a sense of dread hanging over El Iskandryia, this could have been a Monday in October like any other.

Horse-drawn caliches, their brasses shined and wheel bosses polished, rumbled up the Corniche, from the fat seawall known as the Silsileh all the way north to Fort Qaitbey, where the ancient Pharos lighthouse once stood.

And at both ends of the sweeping Corniche, at Silsileh in the shadow of Iskandryia's famous library, and at Fort Qaitbey, groups of tourists watched as fishermen set hooks or mended and untangled nets, waiting for the evening tide.

It was a tourist who'd taken the taxi that stopped outside Le Trianon, with its window down and sound system up too loud, giving Raf the chance to hear the city's favourite DJ one more time.

"And remember . . ." Avatar's voice was street raw. "Rust never sleeps. Coming at you from the wrong side of those tracks, this for the Daddy, the Don . . ."

Most of Raf's officers thought DJ Avatar came up with SpitNoWhere on his own; if they thought at all, which Raf considered unlikely. So they happily stamped the corridors at Police HQ, humming along, not knowing that the unchopped original went, "In a rich man's house, there's nowhere to spit but his face."

Raf hadn't known that, at least not until recently, but the fox in his head did. And while the fox couldn't say why, the General's aide de camp had just delivered to Raf an engraving of hell, inscribed with the words, "At its centre hell is not hot." It had at least been able to identify the picture as late Victorian, unquestionably by Gustave Dore . . .

". . . ou know," said the fox, before all this happened. ". . . ese things, they occur."

The fox had a grin like the Cheshire cat, except that no cat ever owned so many teeth or carried its tail wrapped up round its shoulders like a stole. Come to that, few cats took afternoon tea at Le Trianon.

These things could have been Raf becoming Chief of Detectives by default, or his recent refusal to marry the daughter of a billionaire.

"Why?" Raf asked. "Why do they occur?"

But the fox didn't answer.

Sighing, Raf took a gulp of cold cappuccino to wash away the taste of cheap speed and fixed his gaze on the pedestrians who streamed past his cafe table, separated from the terrace where he sat by a silk rope and the assiduous attention of two bodyguards.

The only pedestrians to meet Raf's stare were those, mainly tourists, who didn't realize who he was. They just saw a blond young man in dark glasses, wearing an oddly old-fashioned suit, the kind with a high collar.

"Come on," said Raf, searching inside his head. "You can tell me."

He ignored his two guards, who looked at each other, then hurriedly looked away. Raf didn't doubt that they could see tears trickling from under his glasses, but he didn't much care either.

The fox was saying good-bye.

The beast had been dying for years. Its abilities limited by memory conflicts, failed backup and the fact that, these days, the animal could only feed on neon light.

Once Tiri had been state of the art. Feeding on daylight, infrared and ultraviolet, or so it told Raf. White light, black light--back then anything went. The fox sharpened Raf's reflexes, steadied his ne]]> 2002 4 0 false Fri Sep 11 04:10:56 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 11 04:10:56 -0700 2009 69422499 1405253 368858 0553587447 9780553587449 5 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277m/368858.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277s/368858.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/368858.Effendi 3.95 76
It’s the twenty-first century and El Iskandryia—an alluring metropolis built on seduction, corruption, and lies—is the double-dealing heart of an Ottoman Empire that still rules the world. But these days a sense of dread hangs over El Isk—and over Ashraf Bey, the city’s new Chief of Detectives. A trial is set to take place, and it’s up to Raf to decide the case. There’s only one problem: the suspect is the billionaire father of the woman Raf should have married.

Industrialist Hamzah Effendi is accused of crimes so horrible that even El Iskandryia wants him eliminated. But Raf finds that protecting the sensual and impetuous Zara Quitrimala from the secrets of her father’s past may be even more dangerous. For Raf must now solve a series of brutal murders that are somehow connected to the case—and to Zara. And the closer Raf gets to the truth, the more elusive the answers become—and the closer he comes to his own demise.…

“Raymond Chandler for the 21st century.” —Esquire
“All brilliant light and scorching heat...Grimwood has successfully mingled fantasy with reality to make an unusual, believable, and absorbing mystery."—Sunday Telegraph (London)

“If you’re not reading Jon Courtenay Grimwood, then you don’t know how subtle and daring fiction can be.” —Michael Marshall Smith, author of Spares and One of Us

“Fast, furious, fun and elegant, the Arabesk trilogy is one of the best things to hit the bookstores in a while.” —SFRevu




]]> 2002 4 0 false Tue Nov 03 04:42:26 -0800 2009 Sun Aug 30 06:07:26 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 30 06:07:26 -0700 2009 68123845 192271 368858 0553587447 9780553587449 5 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277m/368858.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277s/368858.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/368858.Effendi 3.95 76
It’s the twenty-first century and El Iskandryia—an alluring metropolis built on seduction, corruption, and lies—is the double-dealing heart of an Ottoman Empire that still rules the world. But these days a sense of dread hangs over El Isk—and over Ashraf Bey, the city’s new Chief of Detectives. A trial is set to take place, and it’s up to Raf to decide the case. There’s only one problem: the suspect is the billionaire father of the woman Raf should have married.

Industrialist Hamzah Effendi is accused of crimes so horrible that even El Iskandryia wants him eliminated. But Raf finds that protecting the sensual and impetuous Zara Quitrimala from the secrets of her father’s past may be even more dangerous. For Raf must now solve a series of brutal murders that are somehow connected to the case—and to Zara. And the closer Raf gets to the truth, the more elusive the answers become—and the closer he comes to his own demise.…

“Raymond Chandler for the 21st century.” —Esquire
“All brilliant light and scorching heat...Grimwood has successfully mingled fantasy with reality to make an unusual, believable, and absorbing mystery."—Sunday Telegraph (London)

“If you’re not reading Jon Courtenay Grimwood, then you don’t know how subtle and daring fiction can be.” —Michael Marshall Smith, author of Spares and One of Us

“Fast, furious, fun and elegant, the Arabesk trilogy is one of the best things to hit the bookstores in a while.” —SFRevu




]]> 2002 0 0 false Wed Aug 19 19:53:38 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 19:53:38 -0700 2009 66383048 1664637 6441290 0575081341 9780575081345 0 http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6441290-the-arabesk-trilogy-book-2 0.0 0
It’s the twenty-first century and El Iskandryia—an alluring metropolis built on seduction, corruption, and lies—is the double-dealing heart of an Ottoman Empire that still rules the world. But these days a sense of dread hangs over El Isk—and over Ashraf Bey, the city’s new Chief of Detectives. A trial is set to take place, and it’s up to Raf to decide the case. There’s only one problem: the suspect is the billionaire father of the woman Raf should have married.

Industrialist Hamzah Effendi is accused of crimes so horrible that even El Iskandryia wants him eliminated. But Raf finds that protecting the sensual and impetuous Zara Quitrimala from the secrets of her father’s past may be even more dangerous. For Raf must now solve a series of brutal murders that are somehow connected to the case—and to Zara. And the closer Raf gets to the truth, the more elusive the answers become—and the closer he comes to his own demise.…

“Raymond Chandler for the 21st century.” —Esquire
“All brilliant light and scorching heat...Grimwood has successfully mingled fantasy with reality to make an unusual, believable, and absorbing mystery."—Sunday Telegraph (London)

“If you’re not reading Jon Courtenay Grimwood, then you don’t know how subtle and daring fiction can be.” —Michael Marshall Smith, author of Spares and One of Us

“Fast, furious, fun and elegant, the Arabesk trilogy is one of the best things to hit the bookstores in a while.” —SFRevu




]]> 2002 0 0 false Wed Aug 05 21:13:33 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 05 21:13:33 -0700 2009 65807979 2489278 368858 0553587447 9780553587449 5 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277m/368858.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277s/368858.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/368858.Effendi 3.95 76
It’s the twenty-first century and El Iskandryia—an alluring metropolis built on seduction, corruption, and lies—is the double-dealing heart of an Ottoman Empire that still rules the world. But these days a sense of dread hangs over El Isk—and over Ashraf Bey, the city’s new Chief of Detectives. A trial is set to take place, and it’s up to Raf to decide the case. There’s only one problem: the suspect is the billionaire father of the woman Raf should have married.

Industrialist Hamzah Effendi is accused of crimes so horrible that even El Iskandryia wants him eliminated. But Raf finds that protecting the sensual and impetuous Zara Quitrimala from the secrets of her father’s past may be even more dangerous. For Raf must now solve a series of brutal murders that are somehow connected to the case—and to Zara. And the closer Raf gets to the truth, the more elusive the answers become—and the closer he comes to his own demise.…

“Raymond Chandler for the 21st century.” —Esquire
“All brilliant light and scorching heat...Grimwood has successfully mingled fantasy with reality to make an unusual, believable, and absorbing mystery."—Sunday Telegraph (London)

“If you’re not reading Jon Courtenay Grimwood, then you don’t know how subtle and daring fiction can be.” —Michael Marshall Smith, author of Spares and One of Us

“Fast, furious, fun and elegant, the Arabesk trilogy is one of the best things to hit the bookstores in a while.” —SFRevu




]]> 2002 4 0 false Sat Aug 01 17:19:19 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 01 17:19:19 -0700 2009 8 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=368858