The Men Behind: A Mamur Zapt Mystery - Softcover

Pearce, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1590580524 ISBN 13: 9781590580523

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press, 2003

Synopsis

While riding home to lunch on his donkey, Fairclough of Customs is rudely unseated by shots fired from behind. The incident is but the first of a series of attacks seemingly aimed at public officials. Even Captain Gareth Owen, the Mamur Zapt, British head of Cairo's Secret Police, barely escapes. Is a sinister campaign to undermine foreign rule under way? And who are "the men behind"? True, the Nationalist movement is rising after thirty years of the British Protectorate, and the new Liberal Government in London is more sympathetic than the heavy-handed Conservatives to local rule. But can Owen discount more mundane agendas?

Under orders to act quickly, Owen delves into both maneuverings at the Khedive's court and the goals of a commercial delegation. His investigations not only carry him in to the city's student quarter but out into the countryside and onto a rural estate. Along the way he juggles a Pasha whose political star is fading, a bomb-wielding Berber, and the knife-happy gypsy Soraya who seriously annoys Owen's main squeeze, the fiery and lovely Zeinab, herself the daughter of a pasha. Which of these explosive mixes is most likely to prove injurious to the Mamur Zapt as well as to the government he serves?

About this title

From the Back Cover

A sudden bullet pierces the pungent dust that permeates Cairo. The victim is a bookkeeper called Fairclough; he has been shot at from behind while riding home on his donkey, though not badly hurt. Hardly cause for alarm, thinks Cadwallader Owen, better known as the Mamur Zapt, or head of Cairo's Secret Police. After all, Fairclough is with Customs. And in 1909 British-ruled Cairo, Customs is the lowest of all departments. But Owen's nonchalance is soon shattered as unexpected, bloody violence shakes Cairo's crowded bazaars and bustling thoroughfares. Then, scores of frightened British and Egyptian civil servants flood the police with complaints of pursuit by unknown men. Finally, on a dank back street, Owen himself is followed and nearly attacked by two shadowy characters in European dress. Is this a reign of terror to undermine British rule? Or is it a personal vendetta? The Mamur Zapt is determined to uncover the truth. It is a dangerous mission that will take him through Cairo's darkest alleys, into its loudest, bawdiest district, and out to a fearfully remote desert village. Dodging wild bombs and stray bullets, the Mamur Zapt desperately strives to preserve the law...and his own life. But to do so he must find answers to mystifying questions. Who are these would-be assailants who stalk their victims so cunningly? Who are the deadly "men behind"?

About the Author

Michael Pearce grew up in the (then) Anglo-Egyptian Sudan among the political and other tensions he draws on for his books. He returned there later to teach and retains a human rights interest in the area. In between whiles his career has followed the standard academic rake’s progress from teaching to writing to administration. He finds international politics a pallid imitation of academic ones.

About this edition

• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1590580524
• ISBN 13: 9781590580523
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 234