The Fig Tree Murder
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- ¥680
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- ¥680
発行者による作品情報
From the award-winning Michael Pearce, comes a delightful murder mystery set in Egypt in 1908. A body is found on the tracks of a new electric railway and the Mamur Zapt is called in to investigate.
Cairo, 1908. It’s called the Tree of the Virgin, a site of religious interest, perilously close to the construction site of the new electric railway. Sinister power groups are jostling for position, but who dumped the body of the humble villager on the track?
When the Mamur Zapt begins to pick his way through the local and national power structures, he has to ask, what is the significance of the Fig Tree? Does it matter that the caravans for Mecca gather only a mile or so away? And what of the ostrich that passed in the night?
Reviews
Praise for Michael Pearce:
‘Sheer fun’ The Times
‘Effortlessly funny and engaging’ Literary Review
Michael Pearce’s light touch and witty dialogue make this series a continuing delight’ Sunday Telegraph
‘Urbane, intelligent and never patronising, Pearce writes about Egypt with the observant eye of the lover who sees yet forgives all faults’ – Val McDermid
About the author
Michael Pearce was raised in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, where his fascination for language began. He later trained as a Russian interpreter but moved away from languages to follow an academic career, first as a lecturer in English and the History of Ideas, and then as an administrator. Michael Pearce now lives in London and is best known as the author of the award-winning Mamur Zapt books.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
First published in the U.K. in 1996, Pearce's 10th Mamur Zapt mystery is good on period atmosphere but less successful as a whodunit. Gareth Owen, who as the Mamur Zapt heads the secret police for the British in early 20th-century Cairo, is summoned when a corpse is discovered on an unfinished piece of railroad track linking the capital city to a new city under development. The location of the body suggests that the crime may be the work of nationalists or religious figures opposed to the project. In addition to tackling the murder, Pearce's engaging creation masterfully uses his familiarity with bureaucracy to douse the brewing controversy surrounding the ownership of a nearby fig tree said to be linked to the Virgin Mary. As in several of its predecessors, the circle of suspects is a little too narrow to afford the author the ability to enhance his entertaining with a real puzzle.
