Belshazzar's Daughter

From the very first page, Barbara Nadel hooks you into a murder that takes place in a poor section of Istanbul, where a poor Jewish immigrant is mysteriously and hideously murdered, leaving an astonishing about of cash tucked into his blood soaked mattress. There are times you almost can't breathe as Inspector Ikmen strikes up another match to light another cigarette, sucks brandy straight out of his hip flask (hey, it's Turkey. The rules are different) and exercises his gifted intuition in interviews which have the comic absurdity of reality. She describes the village areas within Istanbul with such clarity that if someone asked me if I had been there, I might think I have. Her characters are so real that when I finish a Barbara Nadel book, it's still too soon, I want to know how his children are doing, how his sweet wife is doing, if dealing with his father is getting any easier . . . And oh, the guilt! We get inside the suspect's minds, and the peripheral characters, as they are questioned. Someone once told me "everyone lies to the police, even good people. They don't mean to, they just want to show themselves in the best light." Sometimes it is a sin of omission, leaving out a critical piece of information who which they have access but are unwilling to share. Inspector Ikmen finds ways to get them to disclose the tiniest clue, then massages and works it until it has given more than you ever thought it could.

This author was recommended by an American friend who lived & worked in Turkey for three years. Barbara Nadel's writing takes a bit of getting used to -- at times a tad convoluted with stilted dialogue -- until I found myself longing to return to the atmospheric landscape of this seething city on the Bosphorus where Europe ends & the Levant begins, where cultures clash & mingle & centuries of history vibrate in the stones & air: modernday Istanbul. In BELSHAZZAR'S DAUGHTER we meet diminutive & ugly Detective Ikmen: of mixed heritage, a couple of "sinful" habits, his very pregnant wife, many children & aging father all crammed into a little apartment. We also get to know, quite well, Ikmen's assorted police staff, themselves steeped in their separate cultures. An ancient Bolshevik Jewish emmigre is brutally killed in his hovel where an anti-Semitic image has been daubed on the wall in the corpse's blood & a stash of money lies untouched. A tortured English teacher is thinking about the object of his obsession: an exotic young woman who he's just seen running from a building in the Jewish quarter. Then he tells the first of many lies to Detective Ikmen, busy ferreting out the clues to this murder, uncovering connections to revolution, tsarist lineage & nazism. A satisfying read in which I learnt a lot about this fabled city rich with Turkish/Ottoman culture. Thrilled to see there are more Detective Ikmen adventures. My only complaint is with the print: it's tiny 11 point font, & no US agent or publisher has snapped Barbara Nadel up yet!

This is a great read. Interesting and unique. It's suppose to be entertaining not great literature. The main characters are worth getting to know and I was delighted to see that Ikmen shows up in subsequent books. Compared to some of the junk on the market Barbara Nadel is first rate.

On my third trip to Istanbul, I found myself in possession of Nadel's first novel about the city and its inhabitants. I found myself looking at the city in a whole new context. The mystery, intrigue and rampant life force I sensed there was spelled out for me from, apparently, an insider viewpoint. Fascinated, I had to visit Balat, the scene of the old Jewish man's murder, and a quarter not normally visited by casual visitors. I was totally creeped out - the place was EXACTLY as described, only now I saw it with the Nadel overlay. The quarter is not creepy - only my reaction to it. Very mysterious place, and I think I actually overheard some Ladino.... As an American, from California, I had nearly no hope, without a huge investment of time, to ever know about family life in such a foreign environment, but after reading Nadel's books I feel like I know every other person on the street in Istanbul. Fortunately, I have witnessed no gruesome murders, or any other crime, for that matter. But most people visiting LA don't meet Richard Ramirez, either. That is a GOOD thing. The plot is twisty and complex, but I like that in a crime novel. The characters are unforgettable, and I hope Nadel never stops writing about them.

British expatriate Robert Cornelius works in Istanbul's Londra Language School. He just completes his lessons to eight students when he notices his Turkish lover Natalia moving at an incredible pace in the run down Jewish Quarter. Apparently an anti-Semitic crime occurred in Balat as someone murdered but not before abusing elderly Leonid Meyer, a Jew who escaped from Russia during the 1918 Revolution. At the bloody crime scene is a swastika drawn in the victim's blood. Robert wonders how Natalia is tied to this vicious homicide.Also involved in more official capacities are Turkish police officers: chain-smoking veteran Inspector Cetin Ikmen and the relatively rookie Sergeant Suleyman. They begin investing the heinous crime while they struggle with the demands of their respective families. Soon they find a link to Robert and Natalia as the former's grandmother was the victim's lover at one time and the latter was convicted of assaulting a Jewish lawyer in his hometown of London. Is the murder a case of vengeful passion as the two cops begin to believe or is it a more sinister attack on the Jewish population?BELSHAZZAR'S DAUGHTER is an insightful laid-back Turkish police procedural. Cozy fans (in spite of the brutality of the killing) and those who delight in foreign who-done-its will be grateful for this fine novel. However, anyone who likes plenty of non-stop action needs to pass as Barbara Nadel furbishes a deep look at family life in Istanbul as much or more than who killed the elderly Jew.Harriet Klausner