ABOUT THE BOOK

A Turkish worker - Ahmed Hamul - is stabbed to death in Frankfurt's red-light district - certainly no reason for the local police to work overtime. Kemal Kayankaya, however has a different attitude. He is 26, born in Turkey, raised in Germany and now working as a Private Investigator. He has a German passport but has first hand experience of resentment against foreigners and now Hamul's wife, Ilter, has hired Kayankaya to find out who murdered her husband.

In the 3 days it takes him to wrap up the case, he has time to identify Ilter's sister as a heroin addict, track down Ahmed's girlfriend [a prostitute], link his father-in-law's fatal accident three years earlier to an ingenious police cover-up, and still survive beatings, gas attacks and a close encounter with a Fiat.

CRITICAL ACCLAIM

Jakob Arjouni writes the best urban thrillers since Raymond Chandler.' Tempo, Hamburg.

'A remarkable debut' - The London Guardian

'..tautly narrated..not a word wasted' - London Sunday Times

'An exceptional achievement' - Hungry Mind Review

'The greatest German mystery novel since WWII' - Suddeutsche Zeitung

'A worthy grandson of Marlowe and Spade.' - Stern

'The latest wunderkind.' - Der Speigel

'Germany's youngest and hottest mystery writer' - Wiener

'A pitch black noir, powerful and tasty' - La Depeche

'The protagonist of a most successful series of novels.' - Panorama

'Unusually gifted...' - Neue Zurcher Zeitung