The Baklava Club

Jason Goodwin

★ ★ ★ ★

This was supposed to be the "Last" in the series...... Effendi Yashim (Investigator to the Pasha & Valide, Eunuch, & Orphan) turns out to have such a large & vociferous following that Jason Goodwin didn't "kill him off" after all!

Istanbul 1842: Yashim's old friend, Polish Consulate Palewski, has become the center of interest of a group of young Italians (one with a beautiful Danish girlfriend)

wanting to break away from the Pope.... In the meanwhile unbeknownst to most, Palewski has taken on a undercover assignment for the Pasha...... When Palewski is shot, Yashim takes a most genuine interest in the investigation of why, how &whom......

In the mean time a young woman from exiled Russia (Siberia) has come to petition the Valide to help her father's cause.... liberating him from his exile. Them there is the Roman Priest, who spends most of his time in the archives of Istanbul searching for a much sought after Papal Decree and drinking Palewski's bourbon and generally being a pain.

There is a kidnapping, the murder of one of the Pasha's clerks, the attacks on Palewski & Yashim, and the murder of the Dane...... No one is whom they seem to be, the Italians are members of a "liberation cell", the Russian is maybe not as helpless as she seems, the Pasha isn't as unaware as he seems, Palewski is much more courageous & true to his beliefs than ever before, and Yashim is as great of a cook as he has ever been.

I am so happy that Yashim was not killed off. I am already grieving for the Mamur Zapt whose last book I read in June....... I never did guess what was going on, so the mystery was strong. As always, I loved Yashim's cooking and I have found a new manner of Pilaf...... Not only did the book hold my interest, I even liked most of the characters no matter how tragic their innocence.