The Winter Thief

by Jenny White Narrated by Wanda McCaddon

Overview

January 1888. Vera Arti carries The Communist Manifesto in Armenian through Istanbul's streets, unaware of the men following her. When the police discover a shipload of guns and the Imperial Ottoman Bank is blown up, suspicion falls on a socialist commune Arti's friends organized in the eastern mountains. Special Prosecutor Kamil Pasha is called in to investigate. He soon encounters his most ruthless adversary to date: Vahid, head of a special branch of the secret police, who has convinced the sultan that the commune is leading a secessionist movement and should be destroyed-along with surrounding villages. Kamil must stop the massacre, but he finds himself on the wrong side of the law, framed for murder and accused of treason, his family and the woman he loves threatened.

Exploring the dark obsessions of the most powerful and dangerous men of the dying Ottoman Empire, The Winter Thief also reflects the mad idealism of those turbulent times.

Editorial Reviews

Maureen Corrigan

White…adroitly tosses in period detail as well as romance, political intrigue and brutal battle scenes. But The Winter Thief really distinguishes itself by the intelligence of its smaller moments, when characters take stock of their limitations against the larger demands of history.
—The Washington Post

Publishers Weekly

Set in 1888, White’s gripping third thriller to feature Turkish detective Kamil Pasha (after The Abyssinian Proof) will appeal to fans of Laura Joh Rowland’s Japanese historical series. Like Rowland’s hero, Kamil serves as a special investigator for his country’s ruler (in his case, the sultan of the Ottoman empire), and he must compete for influence with a ruthless and powerful rival. The discovery of a shipment of illegal arms and an explosion and robbery at the Imperial Ottoman Bank compound the sultan’s fears about threats to his rule. The challenges mount for Kamil when Vahid, the vicious head of the secret police, frames him for murder before Kamil can go to the Choruh Valley to find out whether a socialist commune is actually a base for revolutionaries. Vahid plots to gain even more control over the empire by being put in charge of a new intelligence service. While there’s no mystery about who committed the crimes, the atmospherics and period detail are first-rate. (Mar.)

MARCH 2011 - AudioFile

The Ottoman Empire of 1888 provides the exotic backdrop for this story of revolution, intrigue, and violence. Kamil Pasha, the sultan's special investigator, seeks to unravel multiple crimes involving his archenemy, Vahid, the vicious head of the secret police. Narrator Wanda McCaddon, briskly paced and often strident, keeps the story moving through the numerous plot twists. However, the characters’ names, most unfamiliar to the Western ear, can be difficult to follow. With a bank robbery, illegal guns, an explosion, torture, and a fire, the blood flows freely. While this story is not for the faint of heart, McCaddon’s depictions of Kamil’s moral dilemmas make for a compelling main character. M.H.N. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169902129
Publisher:	Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date:	09/29/2010
Series:	Kamil Pasha Series , #3
Edition description:	Unabridged

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