After more than 25 years, the return of Kemal Kayankaya, ”The ultimate outsider among hard-boiled private eyes” (Marilyn Stasio in The New York Times Book Review).
Jakob Arjouni’s first novel—Happy Birthday, Turk!—was published when he was just eighteen. The book and its beleaguered hero, Turkish P.I. Kemal Kayankaya, instantly found an adoring audience throughout Europe, and three more bestselling Kayankaya novels quickly followed.
Now, more than twenty-five years later—after publishing a string of critically acclaimed literary novels—Arjouni returns to his most beloved character, Kayankaya … who finds that while things in Frankfurt have gotten glitzier, it’s still the ugliest town in all of Germany, and the city’s underworld has hardly changed at all.
Valerie de Chavannes, a financier’s daughter, summons Kayankaya to her villa in Frankfurt’s diplomat’s quarter and commissions him to find her missing sixteen-year-old daughter. She is alleged to be with an older man who is posing as an artist. To Kayankaya, it seems like a simple case: an upper class girl with a taste for adventure.
Then another seemingly posh job turns up: a major publisher needs to protect a writer who has offended Islamist groups during the Frankfurt Book Fair.
The two cases seem to be straightforward, but it goes all wrong for Kayankaya, as it almost always does. Luckily, that’s when he’s at his best.
“[Brother Kemal] is cool, witty, and entertaining, with just enough social comment to give it substance. It even ends on a more hopeful note than most hard-boiled private eyes enjoy. It imagines a different future path for Kemal, a future that must remain unrealized.” —Reviewing the Evidence
“The series offers something wonderful for fans of international crime stories, mostly for the perspective of Arjouni’s private investigator… His view of German society is jaded and witty – and while the stories and punchy dialogue echo James M. Cain and Raymond Chandler, Arjouni also provides pockets of absurd humor.” —the Plain Dealer
The New York Times profiles Jakob Arjouni, “A Master of Crime Fiction”
“Spot-on and often beautiful descriptions distinguish the fifth and final Kemal Kayankaya thriller (after Kismet) from Arjouni… fans of his crime novels will be grateful that he chose to bring back the ruthless Kayankaya for one last raucous outing before his untimely passing earlier this year.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
Praise for Jakob Arjouni
”Sets a high standard for the crime novel as the best of modern literature.”–The Independent (UK)