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Author Jason Goodwin writes this series about Yashim Togalu, who is an Ottoman investigator and eunuch that lived in Istanbul. The series lasted for five installments.
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Order of Yashim The Ottoman Detective Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Janissary Tree | 2006 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | The Snake Stone | 2007 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | The Bellini Card | 2010 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | An Evil Eye | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
| 5 | The Baklava Club | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
| 6 | Yashim Cooks Istanbul | 2016 | Description / Buy |
The series began being published in the year 2007, when “The Janissary Tree” was published. The series is from the historical mystery genre, and is set in during the nineteenth century (to be more specific: the 1830s and 1840s). The series has been translated into forty different languages.
YASHIM THE OTTOMAN DETECTIVE AWARDS
In the year 2007, he won an Edgar Award for “The Janissary Tree” for having the Best Novel. “The Snake Stone” got nominated for a Macavity Award.
BEST YASHIM THE OTTOMAN DETECTIVE BOOKS
For those readers looking to get into the “Yashim the Ottoman Detective” series by Jason Goodwin, this section will help with that. It will go over the novels “The Janissary Tree”, “The Snake Stone”, and “The Bellini Card”.
The Janissary Tree: This is the first novel in the “Yashim the Ottoman Detective” series and was released in the year 2006. The year is 1836, and Europe is starting to modernize. The Ottoman Empire’s sultan feels he has little choice but to follow their suit. Right when he is about to announce some big changes politically, there is a series of killings that threatens to wreck the fragile balance that stands in the sultan’s court. Who is it that is committing these killings?
The Sultan asks for Yashim. Yashim takes the reader through all kinds of places, and he is able to put the clues together. However, he is not
alone. He is dependent on a dyspeptic Polish ambassador’s wisdom, a queen mother born in Creole country, and a transexual dancer. He is able to find some salvation in a wife of another man’s arms. He is far from the everyday eunuch, and provides the reader with an introduction to the Janissaries.
For four centuries, they were the elite soldiers of the empire. They got too powerful, though, and the sultan had them crushed a decade back. Is it possible the Janissaries are trying to come back in brutal fashion? If so, how will it be possible to stop them without throwing the country of Istanbul into chaos, politically?
The Snake Stone: This is the second novel in the “Yashim the Ottoman Detective” series and was released in the year 2007. An archaeologist from France comes in 1830s Istanbul, and seeks to find a Byzantine treasure gone missing. It makes the local Greek communities unsure how they should react, because the man sure seems well informed, dangerously so.
Yashim is once more brought in to solve the case. But the archaeologist’s mutilated corpse is found right outside the French embassy. There is only a single suspect. Yashim.
The Bellini Card: This is the third novel in the “Yashim the Ottoman Detective” series and was released in the year 2007. The year is 1840 and the place is Istanbul. A new sultan hears of a rumor that a vanished masterpiece of Bellini, which is a portrait done of Mehmet the Conqueror, could have resurfaced in the city of Venice.
Yashim is quickly asked to investigate things, all the while, he knows that he cannot buy the painting back. He makes the call to send Palewski (who is his Polish ambassador buddy who has little power now) to go to Venice for him. Palewski shows up disguised in Venice, where there is a killer on the loose. All the while faded aristocrats, dealers, and all kinds of unknown entities are out there. They seek to find out about where the missing Bellini may have wound up.
Could it really be the Bellini itself that puts everyone in danger or is it something to do with the original loss? Why are all the victims linked to an attractive Countess? Are the Austrians going to be able to reveal Palewski is in disguise? Or is the murderer going to get tohim first?
OTHER BOOK SERIES YOU MAY LIKE
Be sure to check out the “Inspector Montalbano” series by Andrea Camilleri. The series stars Inspector Montalbano, who is a Sicilian and fractious detective in the Vigata police force, which is a fictional Sicilian town.
Many readers have also enjoyed the “Slough House” series by Mick Herron. The Slough House is the dumping ground used when British intelligence agents have screwed up a case in certain ways. They are the slow horses, and have disgraced themselves in order to get to this point.
What Is The Next Book in The Yashim The Ottoman Detective Series?
There doesn't seem to be an upcoming book in The Yashim The Ottoman Detective Series. The newest book is Yashim Cooks Istanbul and was released on October, 27th 2016.