The Bride Box
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4.2 • 5 Ratings
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
In WWI Egypt, a murdered girl and her runaway sister lead the Khedive's head investigator to an underground slave trade in this "deftly plotted" mystery (Booklist, starred review).
Cairo, 1913. Pasha Ali Maher has received an unexpected gift: a traditional Bride Box. But what should contain treasures anticipating a marriage instead contains the body of the would-be bride herself. At the same time, a little girl is discovered riding under a train from Luxor—having escaped from her captors—and the Mamur Zapt, Head of the Khedive's Secret Police, is called in to investigate.
Though the two girls are discovered to be sisters, the Pasha and his lady insist they have no connection to the crimes. And as British rule begins to falter, throwing the Mamur Zapt into political turmoil, his investigations uncover a still-thriving slave trade that was supposed to have been stamped out in Egypt long ago.
"This is a deftly plotted, cleverly written, highly entertaining mystery, but it's the gentle humor and the warmth of the characters that earns it two thumbs decisively up." —Booklist, starred review
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in 1913, Pearce's 17th Mamur Zapt mystery (after 2008's The Mark of the Pasha) showcases the author's gift for combining humor with a whodunit puzzle. Gareth Owen, the Mamur Zapt, or head of the secret police for the Khedive (the Egyptian government under British rule), looks into the case of a little girl, Leila, found injured underneath a railway carriage in Cairo. Owen takes Leila into his household, since no one comes forward to claim the girl. Meanwhile, a rotten corpse turns up in a box meant to hold a bride's trousseau shipped from Luxor to Cairo. The victim turns out to be Soraya, Leila's older sister, and Owen comes to believe that Soraya's death may be related to a resurgent slave trade. Pearce manages to keep the long-running series fresh with logical developments in his lead's personal life, while capturing the tensions of the time, nicely exemplified in Owen's working relationship with an Egyptian colleague.
