Omar Yussef Mystery
4 primary works • 8 total works
Book 1
Omar Yussef has taught history in Bethlehem for decades. When a favorite former student, a member of the Palestinian Christian minority, is arrested for collaborating with the Israelis in the killing of a Palestinian guerrilla—a transgression with an inevitable death sentence—Omar is sure he has been framed. When Omar begins to suspect the head of the Bethlehem al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades is the true collaborator, he and his family are threatened, but since no one else will stand up to the violent Martyrs Brigades who hold power over the city, it is up to him to investigate.
Book 2
Omar and his boss, Magnus, travel to the Gaza Strip to inspect the UN schools in the Gaza refugee camps. The trip is just a routine visit, but upon their arrival, they meet James Cree, the UN security officer for Gaza, who tells them that a teacher at one of their schools has been imprisoned for allegedly spying. As they try to free the teacher and manage the explosive political situation, they find themselves in a dangerous confrontation with Gaza’s warring government factions and the local criminal gangs.
Book 3
When Omar Yussef travels to Nablus, the West Bank's most violent town, to attend a wedding, he little expects the trouble that awaits him. An ancient Torah scroll belonging to the Samaritans, descendants of the biblical Joseph, has been stolen. But when the dead body of a young Samaritan is discovered, a seemingly straightforward theft inquiry takes an unexpected turn.
As Omar sets out to find the perpetrators of this murder, he is driven down into the murky alleys and tunnels of the old casbah in Nablus. Here, as he uncovers the secret deals of one of the region's richest businessmen, and the shadowy world of the tiny Samaritan community, he begins to wonder whether he will be able to attend the wedding after all...
Book 4
When Omar Yussef travels to New York for a UN conference, he is eager to see his youngest son, Ala. But the discovery of a decapitated corpse in his son's empty apartment lands him in the midst of a police enquiry riddled with contradictions.
Desperate to clear Ala's name, Omar's investigation to uncover the murderer leads him towards a deadly international conspiracy...
It's a hot, dusty day when Omar Yussef arrives in Gaza. He discovers that there's been an arrest: a fellow teacher has been brutally thrown in jail without trial. Omar Yussef instinctively smells a rat, and determines to help the unknown man.
The person responsible for the arrest is Colonel Fara, the most powerful - and dangerous - man in the area. His friends urge him not to get involved, but Omar Yussef confronts the colonel, and unwittingly becomes embroiled in a deadly private war. When his colleague is kidnapped and another is murdered, his struggle for justice intensifies, and he begins to understand why people tell him that, in Gaza, all crimes are connected. As the dust storm swirls around him, Omar Yussef is faced with the terrible realisation that he is fighting to save not just his colleague, but himself.
Six weeks ago, the great composer told his wife he had been poisoned. Yesterday, he died.
The city is buzzing with rumours of infidelity, bankruptcy and murder. But Wolfgang's sister Nannerl, returned from the provinces to investigate, will not believe base gossip. Who but a madman would poison such a genius?
Yet as she looks closely at what her brother left behind - a handwritten score, a scrap of paper from his journal - Nannerl finds traces of something sinister: the threads of a masonic conspiracy that reach from the gilded ballrooms of Viennese society to the faceless offices of the Prussian secret service.
Only when watching Wolfgang's bewitching opera, The Magic Flute, does Nannerl truly understand her beloved brother once again. For, encoded in his final arias, is a subtly crafted blueprint for a radical new tomorrow. Mozart hoped to change his future. Instead he sealed his fate.
As Yussef falls foul of his headmaster and the local police chief, time begins to run out for this teacher-turned-detective. His classroom is bombed and members of his family are threatened. But with no one else willing to stand up for the truth, it is up to Omar to act, even as bloodshed and heartbreak surround him.
Italy, 1605: For the ruling Borghese family, Rome is a place of grand palazzos and frescoed cathedrals. For the lowly artist Caravaggio, it is a place of rough bars, knife fights, and grubby whores. Until he is commissioned to paint the Pope...
Soon, Caravaggio has gained entry into the Borgia family's inner circle, and becomes the most celebrated artist in Rome. But when he falls for Lena, a low-born fruit-seller, and paints her into his Madonna series as a simple peasant woman, Italian society is outraged. Discredited as an artist, but unwilling to retract his vision of the woman he loves, Caravaggio is forced into a duel - and murders a nobleman.
Even his powerful patrons cannot protect him from a death sentence. So Caravaggio flees to Malta, where, before he can be pardoned, he must undergo the rigorous training of the Knights of Malta. His paintings continue to speak of his love for Lena. But before he can return to her, as a Knight and a noble, Caravaggio, the most famous artist in Italy - simply disappears...