Brides of Blood: A Novel of Suspense

by Joseph Koenig

Darius Bakhtiar, chief of homicide in Teheran, is torn between his love for his country and scorn for the religious fanatics who maintain a stronghold on its citizenry as he investigates the recent murder of a young woman.

Genres: Mystery

290 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Joseph Koenig is an author of hard-boiled fiction. A former crime reporter, he won critical acclaim and an Edgar nomination for his first novel, Floater (1986), a grimly violent story of con men, cops, and killers in the Florida Everglades. His next two novels were Little Odessa (1988), a darkly comic tale of life in New York’s Ukrainian underworld, and Smugglers Notch (1989), a story of brutal murder in snowbound Vermont. Koenig’s fourth novel, the groundbreaking Brides of Blood (1993), won strong reviews for its elegant treatment of police procedure in Islamic Iran.

For nearly two decades after Brides of Blood, Koenig did not publish. But in 2012 the pulp-style publishing house Hard Case Crime released his newest novel, False Negative, a rollicking mystery about a journalist who, like Koenig once did, writes for true-crime magazines.

Reviews

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gritty police procedural in post-revolutionary Iran.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young woman is found dead in Tehran and Darius Bakhtiar is called to investigate her murder. He doesn't get far when the Komiteh – Iran's moral authority – pressures him to drop the case because the girl is considered a prostitute and unworthy of an investigation. But the circumstances surrounding the girl's death are a mystery begging to be solved, and when another woman turns up dead Darius realizes he is on to something much bigger than a dead prostitute. He quickly finds himself on the hunt for a massive amount of heroin, a chemical warfare agent, and the lone surviving member of the Brides of Blood – a band of women prepared for martyrdom – who may be the key to solving the mystery.

Read my full review at TheCelebrityCafe.com

[Lee Henning · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am about 2/3 through this book. I really have enjoyed it. I can't decide whether to rate it 4 or 5 stars. The style and substance remind me a lot of the Renko?? novels set in Russia by Martin Cruz Smith. Honest cop in a very problematic system. Only here, instead of a post-communist system, we are dealing with an even more problematic post autocratic dictatorship and current extreme right wing Muslim system with its own true believers and corruptions.

Hope the remainder doesn't let me down.

Already looking for the next book by this author.

[Deni Johansson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a thriller set in Iran, as if that isn't scary enough, describes the Iranian culture and mind set in Iran, and the horrible dangers, esp to women. I read it in 1993 or 1994.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

In many ways this book reminded me of Martin Cruz Smith's Gorky Park. Very good book.