Nadel always educates as well as entertains. In this novel, the eighth of her series she takes us to central, more rural Turkey to Cappadocia where the famous fairy chimneys are found for Inspector Ikmen's part of the story. These chimneys are worth checking out on Google. It is one of these chimneys that a body is found and Ikmen is here to help out the investigation.

Back in Istanbul Mehmet Suleyman is involved in a different investigation that gets interrupted by the 2003 terrorist bombings of two synagogues ,the British Consulate and a Bank which killed many people and threw the city into a certain chaos.

Always nothing comes easily for these investigators, there must be compromises but that is how one survives to fight another fight in this part of the world. ( )

Inspector Ikmen's latest outing takes him to remote rural Turkey, where a body has been discovered in one of the caves that underlie the region. Inspector Ikmen has a potential connection to the crime, and goes off to the boondocks to investigate. He finds himself in a web of gossip, innuendo, and values that are foreign to his cosmopolitan soul. A good story, and an interesting portrayal of a culture that is still in the grip of very rapid change. ( )

This is the first of the Inspector Ikmen mysteries that I have read. The characters and stories are well developed, although it was difficult to keep track of them all at times. The background colour is a bonus, the description of contemporary Turkey and the meshing of the secular society with the religious one, especially at Ramadan, was interesting. I thought the way the Inspector Suleyman storyline (attacks on young gay men) was resolved was unsatisfactory; it was over the top and far fetched. ( )

There's a main plot involving Ikmen set in Cappadocia, as well as a Suleyman subplot back in Istanbul. Neither particularly grabbed me, although the characters in the former were fairly engaging. Looking forward to the next one. ( )