Jason Goodwin

Istanbul, 1840: the new sultan, Abdulmecid, has heard a rumor that Bellini's vanished masterpiece - a portrait of Mehmed the Conqueror - may have resurfaced in Venice....

It is 1836. Europe is modernizing, and the Ottoman Empire must follow suit. But just before the sultan announces sweeping changes, a wave of murders threatens the balance of power in his court....

The Ottoman Empire has long exerted a strong pull on Western minds and hearts....

When the admiral of the Ottoman fleet defects to the Egyptians, Investigator Yashim attempts to uncover the man's motives.....

Istanbul, 1838. In his palace on the Bosphorus, Sultan Mahmud II is dying, and the city swirls with rumors and alarms....

Three naïve Italian liberals, exiled in Istanbul, have bungled their instructions to kill a Polish prince - instead, they've kidnapped him and absconded to an unused farmhouse....

Istanbul 1838. Lefevre, a French archaeologist, has arrived in Istanbul determined to uncover a lost Byzantine treasure. Yashim is hired to investigate him, but when the man turns up dead, there is only one suspect: Yashim himself....

In nineteenth-century Istanbul, a Polish prince has been kidnapped. His assassination has been bungled and he’s held captive....

Yashim is no ordinary detective....

When the body of a Russian agent is found down a monastery well, Yashim knows exactly who to blame. Fevzi Ahmet Pasha, ruthless commander of the Ottoman fleet. Years ago, Fevzi Ahmet was his mentor....

The third book in Jason Goodwin's celebrated series takes Yashim from the winding alleyways of Istanbul to the decaying grandeur of Venice. Charged by the Sultan to find a stolen painting by Bellini....