The Mamur Zapt and the Men Behind Riding home on his donkey, Fairclough of Customs is shot at from behind. It is the first of many similar incidents-all seemingly aimed at public servants. The Mamur Zapt himself, British Head of Cairo's Secret Police, nearly becomes a victim. Is this a sinister campaign to undermine British rule in Cromer's Egypt? Who are `the men behind'? The Mamur Zapt is told to find out: quickly.
His efforts to do so take him into Cairo's student quarter and out to a remote rural estate; involve him in the wily maneuverings of the Khedive's court and the no less dubious speculations of a visiting commercial delegation; and require him to handle with equal adroitness an ever-ambitious fading political Pasha, an over-enthusiastic bomb juggling Berber bodyguard and a knife-wielding gypsy girl-whose claims he has to balance against those of his fiery and possessive Egyptian mistress. `Keeps up the high standards set by his first ... Elegantly and wittily narrated, with a good plot, colourful characters and an encyclopedic knowledge of the Egypt of Cromer's time. T. J. Binyon, The Times Literary Supplement
First British Edition HarperCollins (1988)
The Mamur Zapt and the Return of the Carpet Cairo 1908. As the long period of indirect British rule draws to an end, tensions mount. The attempted assassination of a veteran politician raises the possibility of a major terrorist outrage at the city's principal religious festival ,the Return of the Holy Carpet from Mecca.
A grim story? Anything but, as Michael Pearce chronicles the deliciously devious means by which the Mamur Zapt, British head of Cairo's Political CID, tracks down the terrorists in this city of multiple nationalities, three principal languages and four competing legal systems. Helping the Mamur Zapt is Mahmoud, a sharp young Egyptian lawyer from the Parquet, the French-style Ministry of Justice; Nikos, a Copt; and Georgiades, a Greek and one of the Mamur Zapt's best agents. Only, at the last minute, as the Holy Carpet is on its way through the streets of Cairo, is disaster averted, and the Mamur Zapt set free to tackle his next assignment.
Here is detection with a difference by an author who knows and loves Egypt, has a scholar's approach to his historical material, and a wit's to the humour inherent in the conflicting interests of his multinational characters.
The Mamur Zapt and the Men Behind
The Mamur Zapt and the Men Behind