The Bride Box: A mystery series set in Egypt at the start of the 20th century (A Mamur Zapt Mystery (17))

Cairo , 1912 . The Pasha receives an unexpected gift: a traditional Bride Box. When opened, however, the box contains an unwelcome jolt from the past one which connects with practices long thought dead. At the same time, a little girl is discovered riding under a train from Luxor and the Mamur Zapt, Head of the Khedives Secret Police, is called in to investigate. An Englishman squeezed between the demands of a world about to disappear and the emerging needs of a world about to come, the Mamur Zapt, finds himself confronting a political storm as the end of British rule approaches and his investigations uncover a tangled web of family loyalties and betrayals, with its roots in a slave trade long supposed to have been stamped out in Egypt. Mamur Zapt leads an investigation into a deftly plotted, cleverly written, highly entertaining mystery set in Cairo during the Great War. Cairo, 1912. The Pasha receives an unexpected gift: a traditional Bride Box. When opened, however, the box contains an unwelcome jolt from the past . . . At the same time, a little girl is discovered riding under a train from Luxor?and the Mamur Zapt, Head of the Khedive's Secret Police, is called in to investigate. He soon finds himself confronting a political storm as the end of British rule approaches and his investigations uncover a tangled web of family loyalties and betrayals, with its roots in a slave trade long supposed to have been stamped out in Egypt. "This is a deftly plotted, cleverly written, highly entertaining mystery, but it's the gentle humor and the warmth of the characters that earns it two thumbs decisively up." ? Booklist (starred review) "As always in this comically understated series, both crime and punishment are consistently upstaged by a lovingly detailed portrait of Egypt during the Great War. The result is a bit like a police procedural reimagined by Douglas Adams." ? Kirkus Reviews In WWI Egypt, a murdered girl and her runaway sister lead the Khedive’s head investigator to an underground slave trade in this “deftly plotted” mystery (Booklist, starred review). Cairo, 1913. Pasha Ali Maher has received an unexpected gift: a traditional Bride Box. But what should contain treasures anticipating a marriage instead contains the body of the would-be bride herself. At the same time, a little girl is discovered riding under a train from Luxor—having escaped from her captors—and the Mamur Zapt, Head of the Khedive’s Secret Police, is called in to investigate. Though the two girls are discovered to be sisters, the Pasha and his lady insist they have no connection to the crimes. And as British rule begins to falter, throwing the Mamur Zapt into political turmoil, his investigations uncover a still-thriving slave trade that was supposed to have been stamped out in Egypt long ago. “This is a deftly plotted, cleverly written, highly entertaining mystery, but it’s the gentle humor and the warmth of the characters that earns it two thumbs decisively up.” —Booklist, starred review The gift of a traditional Bride Box leads Mamur Zapt into a complex and intriuging investigation Cairo, 1912. The Pasha receives an unexpected gift: a traditional Bride Box. When opened, however, the box contains an unwelcome jolt from the past ... At the same time, a little girl is discovered riding under a train from Luxor - and the Mamur Zapt, Head of the Khedive's Secret Police, is called in to investigate. He soon finds himself confronting a political storm as the end of British rule approaches and his investigations uncover a tangled web of family loyalties and betrayals, with its roots in a slave trade long supposed to have been stamped out in Egypt