Sequel to 'Pashazade: The First Arabesk'.
Taxis lie abandoned on street corners, computers are failing and electricity is a distant memory.
As El Iskandryia lies crippled in the wake of a pulse bomb, Ashraf Bey discovers that his first case as the city's new Chief of Detectives is a charge of mass murder against his potential father-in-law, Hamzah Effendi. The Americans, the French and the Germans all want a say in that trial, which is rapidly threatening to turn into an international incident, while agents from the mysterious Thiergarten appear intent on discrediting Raf (if they don't kill him first).
Just another day at the office for Ashraf Bey.
Sprung from a Seattle prison less than six months before, Raf now finds himself responsible for holding a city together, protecting his one-time fiancé from the gruesome details of her father's past, prosecuting a mass murder case and looking after his orphaned nine year old niece. If pressed, Raf couldn't say which he finds most difficult.
There are questions needing urgent answers and answers that simply raise more questions; and with the lives of his friends and family and the fate of the city hanging in the balance, Ashraf Bey is about to learn the true cost of loyalty.
Welcome to El Iskandryia, jewel of North Africa, where anything is available for a price and crime goes unpunished, as long as you're a member of the elite . . .
