The Abyssinian Proof (Kamil Pasha Series #2)

by Jenny White

Overview

"An immensely enjoyable read, richly textured and wonderfully atmospheric."—Sarah Graves

Constantinople, May 1453. In the dying days of the Byzantine Empire, Isaak Metochites and his family are entrusted with a silver reliquary carved with the figure of a weeping angel and the inscription: Behold the Proof of Chora, Container of the Uncontainable. Four hundred years later, magistrate Kamil Pasha is plagued by thefts of antiquities from mosques and churches and a series of murders in which the bodies bear the same distinctive mark. Sources lead Kamil to a hidden sect descended from Abyssinian slaves living in an abandoned cistern in Istanbul's gritty underworld. The reemergence of the forgotten reliquary sets off a brutal race between those sworn to protect it and those who will stop at nothing to gain its explosive secret.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393333725
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	03/16/2009
Series:	Kamil Pasha Series , #2
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	412
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Jenny White is the author of the Kamil Pasha series: The Sultan’s Sea (a finalist for the Ellis Peters Historical Crime Award), The Abyssinian Proof and The Winter Thief. She is a professor of anthropology at Boston University, specializing in Turkey.

Editorial Reviews

A mysterious, holy grail-like object, a document with the potential to "bring about peace between the different peoples of the world," is at the center of White's erudite second novel set in late 19th-century Istanbul and featuring city magistrate Kamil Pasha (after The Sultan's Seal). The minister of justice, Kamil's boss, orders him to find the thieves who are looting Istanbul of its religious relics and selling them to unscrupulous dealers in London. Kamil's friend Malik, the caretaker of a local mosque, has a specific task for him-locating a stolen reliquary, a silver box that contains a secret message known as the Proof of God. Kamil-smart, brave and compassionate-proves an appealing sleuth. Intriguing love interests include the daughter of the leader of the strange Abyssinian sect to which the reliquary belongs. White, a professor of anthropology, clearly knows her period and place, though some readers may wish that she had toned down the esoteric knowledge and upped the thriller quotient. Author tour. (Feb.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Publishers Weekly

Nadia May ably carries listeners to nineteenth-century Istanbul in the second of anthropology professor Jenny White's mysteries involving Magistrate Kamil Pasha. In this one, he must solve a complex case involving the smuggling of precious religious artifacts. Woven into the plot is the story of an unusual Christian Abyssinian sect, led by a woman whom Kamil finds strangely alluring. White has cleverly produced a book that will appeal to listeners who love Dan Brown-type plots and those who want accuracy in their historical mysteries. Without using many accents, May infuses the wide range of characters—from a snobbish British official to a Turkish street urchin—with vibrant personalities, and her pacing is spot-on as she guides listeners into Istanbul's back alleys. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

JULY 2008 - AudioFile