Michael Pearce

The undersecretary of the British embassy in Istanbul has died while attempting to swim the Dardanelles Straits....

It will take someone from Special Branch to look into it, someone capable of speaking the relevant languages. Only one man fits the bill - Seymour, an officer from an East End immigrant background....

Cairo, 1909. The murder capital of the world, where deaths are two a piastre. But the death of an effendi? That is something different....

The dead man had been a prominent businessman in Gibraltar. So what had he been doing in Barcelona? The case, in Gibraltar's view, cries out for investigation....

Cairo of 1908 lives by and in its cafes. Now, suddenly, Cairo's cafe culture is threatened by gangs in the protection business. The task falls to Gareth Owen, the Mamur Zapt and head of the secret police....

Athens, 1912, and the country is on the brink of war. The new Greek Prime minister Venizelos, tired of the Ottoman overlords, has a dream - which he refers to as his 'Great Idea'....

Malta, 1913, and hot air balloons hover over the Grand Harbour. But one of them falls from the sky, the balloonist dying later from his injuries. He is not the only one to die unexpectedly at the Naval Hopspital....

Egypt, 1914. It is the beginning of the war and Gareth Owen, Mamur Zapt and Head of Cairo’s Secret Police, is given the unhappy task of rounding up enemy aliens....

Naples, 1913. Sun-baked, blue-skied, and with its amazing bay it is one of the most beautiful spots in Italy. But it’s also one of the most corrupt....

As the clouds of World War I threaten to engulf Egypt, Gareth Owen, head of the Secret Police, confronts a series of personal and professional challenges....