The Bellini Card

Istanbul gecmisten gelen kabuslara ve gelecek korkusuna teslim olurken Imparatorlukun gaflet uykusundan uyanmasi icin belki de önemli bir sarsinti gecirmesi gerekiyordu.Yil 1836. Yer Osmanli Imparatorlugu. 2. Mahmut Dönemi. Sultan, bir yandan Batiya ayak uydurma gayretiyle yenilik hareketlerine girisirken, bir yandan da devlet icindeki karisikliklarla ugrasmaktadir. Olayli günlerde Asakir-i Mansure-i Muhammediyye mensubu bir subayin cesedi bulunur ve Sultanin gözdelerinden biri haremde bogularak öldürülür. Sultan, cinayetlerin aydinlanmasi icin hizliligi ile ünlü Haremagasi Yasimi görevlendirir. Tarihin belki de ilk hadim dedektifi ama en cesaretlilerinden biri olan Yasimin on günü vardir. Istanbulun karmasik sokaklarinda ve zengin gecmisinde katilin izini süren Yasimin süpheleri zamanla, Vaka-i Hayriye sonrasi yok edildiklerine inanilan, dört yüz yildir imparatorlugun simgesi olmus yeniceriler üzerinde toplanir.

Investigator Yashim travels to Venice in the latest installment of the Edgar® Award-winning author Jason Goodwin's captivating historical mystery series<BR><BR>Jason Goodwin's first Yashim mystery, The Janissary Tree, brought home the Edgar® Award for Best Novel. His follow-up, The Snake Stone, more than lived up to expectations and was hailed by Marilyn Stasio in The New York Times Book Review as "a magic carpet ride to the most exotic place on earth." Now, in The Bellini Card, Jason Goodwin takes us back into his "intelligent, gorgeous and evocative" (The Independent on Sunday) world, as dazzling as a hall of mirrors and utterly compelling.<BR><BR>Istanbul, 1840: the new sultan, Abdülmecid, has heard a rumor that Bellini's vanished masterpiece, a portrait of Mehmet the Conqueror, may have resurfaced in Venice. Yashim, our eunuch detective, is promptly asked to investigate, but -- aware that the sultan's advisers are against any extravagant repurchase of the painting -- decides to deploy his disempowered Polish ambassador friend, Palewski, to visit Venice in his stead. Palewski arrives in disguise in down-and-out Venice, where a killer is at large as dealers, faded aristocrats, and other unknown factions seek to uncover the whereabouts of the missing Bellini.<BR><BR>But is it the Bellini itself that endangers all, or something associated with its original loss? And why is it that all the killer's victims are somehow tied to the alluring Contessa d'Aspi d'Istria? Will the Austrians unmask Palewski, or will the killer find him first? Only Yashim can uncover the truth behind the manifold mysteries.<BR><BR>The Paperback Edition Includes an Author Interview, Bonus Inspector Yashim Recipe, and an Excerpt from the Next Inspector Yashim Mystery, An Evil Eye