Mamur Zapt
14 primary works • 15 total works
Book 1
In this classic mystery from the award-winning Michael Pearce, a powerful politician is murdered in Cairo in the 1900s and the Mamur Zapt is called in to investigate.
Cairo in the 1900s. As the long period of indirect British rule draws to an end, tensions mount. The attempted assassination of a politician raises the possibility of a terrorist outrage at the city’s religious festival, the Return of the Holy Carpet from Mecca.
When the Mamur Zapt, British head of Cairo’s secret police, begins to investigate, he finds himself in a race against a deadly group of terrorists to protect the city from a catastrophic attack.
Book 2
A classic murder mystery from the award-winning Michael Pearce, in which The Mamur Zapt races to prevent an explosion of religious violence in the Cairo of the 1900s.
Cairo in the 1900s. When the body of a dog is discovered in a Coptic tomb – a Muslim insult that could spark an explosion among the Christian community – the Mamur Zapt, British head of Cairo’s secret police, is called in to investigate.
Equally volatile is a command from an English Member of Parliament that the Mamur Zapt, Gareth Owen, show the MP’s niece the sights of the city. When a dancing dervish is stabbed before the lady’s very eyes, Owen begins to uncover a plot to set Cairo’s ethnic communities at each other’s throats…
Book 3
A classic murder mystery from the award-winning Michael Pearce, which sees the Mamur Zapt investigate a series of suspicious kidnappings in the Cairo of the 1900s.
Cairo in the 1900s. ‘Tourists are quite safe provided they don’t do anything stupidly reckless,’ Owen, the Mamur Zapt, British head of Cairo’s secret police, assures the press. But what of Monsieur Moulin and Mr Colthorpe, kidnapped from the terrace at Shepheard’s Hotel?
Were these kidnappings intended as deliberately symbolic blows at the British? Owen had better unravel it quickly, or else… And where better to start from than the donkey-vous, Cairo’s enterprising youths who hire out their donkeys for rides…
Book 4
From the award-winning Michael Pearce comes an engrossing murder mystery set in the Cairo of the 1900s. After a series of attacks on public officials, the Mamur Zapt is called in to investigate.
Cairo in the 1900s. While riding home, Fairclough of Customs is shot at from behind. It is the first of many similar attacks - all seemingly aimed at public officials. The Mamur Zapt, British head of Cairo's secret police, is told to catch the killer - and quickly.
His efforts to do so take him into Cairo's student quarter and out to a remote rural estate. And require him to handle a fading Pasha and a dangerous gypsy girl - whose claims he has to balance against those of his fiery Egyptian mistress.
Book 5
A classic historical mystery from award-winning Michael Pearce, in which the body of a young woman washes up in the Nile and the Mamur Zapt is drawn into the seedy world of Egyptian politics.
Egypt, 1908. A young woman has drowned in the Nile, her body washed up on a sandbar. Apparently she had fallen off a boat. Owen, as Mamur Zapt, Britsh head of Cairo’s secret police, deems it a potential crime.
But when the poor girl’s body suddenly vanishes from its resting place, Owen begins a puzzling search for the truth that will take him from Cairo’s sophisticated cafes through its dingiest slums – and into the seething waters of Egyptian politics.
Book 6
Winner of the CWA Last Laugh Award, an irresistible historical mystery in which the Mamur Zapt investigates the illegal trade of antiquities in the Cairo of the 1900s.
Cairo, 1908. The Mamur Zapt, Captain Gareth Owen, British head of Cairo's secret police, turns his attention to the illegal trade of antiquities when Miss Skinner arrives. She's a woman with the habit of asking awkward questions. But what is she doing looking for crocodiles? And mummified ones at that?
Owen's new brief is to see that Egypt's priceless treasures stay in Egypt. But when Miss Skinner narrowly escapes falling under a conveyance, Owen must labour to thwart killers and face an even graver problem: whether to ask the Pasha's lovely daughter to marry him....
Book 7
In this classic mystery from the award-winning Michael Pearce, a powerful politician is murdered in Cairo in the 1900s and the Mamur Zapt is called in to investigate
Cairo, 1910. The end of the boom and everyone seems to have money troubles. Then one day a civil servant dies at his desk. Was it pressure of work or something nastier? The whiff of corruption is in the air, with even Gareth Owen, the Mamur Zapt, under suspicion…
Owen’s investigation takes him to the heart of a sinister organization. But will he be up to taking them on? And will he be in time to stop the Camel of Destruction running through the city?
Book 8
In this engrossing murder mystery set in the Egypt of the 1900s, the Mamur Zapt finds himself under threat from a campaign to discredit Cairo’s senior policemen.
Cairo in the 1900s. The Mamur Zapt, Head of Cairo's secret police, finds himself in a compromising position. The city’s senior policemen are the subject of a smear campaign, a stinging attack which raises uncomfortable questions about their integrity.
The Mamur Zapt himself is suspected, but is he above suspicion? Owen’s investigation takes him into hitherto uncharted territory: the underworld of Cairo and the dangerous profession of snake-catching…
Book 9
A classic historical mystery from the award-winning Michael Pearce, set in the Egypt of the 1900s. When gang violence strikes the city, the inimitable Mamur Zapt is called in to investigate.
In 1908, the city of Cairo lives - and dies - by its cafe culture. But for restaurant businesses, the protection rackets pose a problem. And the city's cafes are experiencing a sudden upsurge in threats from various gangs.
When one cafe proprietor is attacked, his legs broken for noncompliance, everyone is worried. Then the Russian Charge files a complaint - the Mingrelians may be targeting a Russian Grand Duke. Now the Mamur Zapt, Head of the Secret Police, must find a way to prevent an international incident...
Book 10
From the award-winning Michael Pearce, comes a delightful murder mystery set in Egypt in 1908. A body is found on the tracks of a new electric railway and the Mamur Zapt is called in to investigate.
Cairo, 1908. It’s called the Tree of the Virgin, a site of religious interest, perilously close to the construction site of the new electric railway. Sinister power groups are jostling for position, but who dumped the body of the humble villager on the track?
When the Mamur Zapt begins to pick his way through the local and national power structures, he has to ask, what is the significance of the Fig Tree? Does it matter that the caravans for Mecca gather only a mile or so away? And what of the ostrich that passed in the night?
Book 11
In this classic mystery from Michael Pearce’s award-winning series, set in the Egypt of the 1900s, the Mamur Zapt investigates the discovery of a young woman’s body at the site of a dam.
Cairo, 1908. When an attempt is made to blow up a key regulator in the Cairo Barrage, the Mamur Zapt, British head of Cairo’s secret police, is called in to investigate.
To make matters worse, the ceremonial cutting of a dam always requires careful policing, especially on this occasion as it is going to be the Last Cut. Which means the discovery of a young woman’s body at the site of the dam is extremely embarrassing. Is this the traditional ritual sacrifice? Or something more sinister?
Book 12
Shortlisted for the Ellis Peters Award for best historical crime novel, this is an engrossing murder mystery set in the Egypt of the 1900s, featuring the inimitable Mamur Zapt.
Cairo, 1909. The murder capital of the world, where deaths are two a piastre. But the death of an effendi? That is something different. Effendis – the Egyptian elite – are important. Especially if – in a country ruled by foreigners – they happen to be foreign. Gareth Owen, the Mamur Zapt, is called in to investigate. But is he the right man to be investigating? In some countries, if someone goes for a walk – or a boat ride – with the Head of the Secret Police and doesn’t come back, it’s best not to ask questions. And powerful people might have preferred Tvardovsky dead. As the maverick financier said, before going on the shooting party, there were still crocodiles in Egypt. Of all kinds. And perhaps the place to look for them was Crocodilopolis, the ancient City of the Crocodiles, where the financiers were to hold their meeting. It is when the crocodiles start co-operating, said Tvardovsky, that you really have to watch out…
Book 13
In this classic murder mystery from Michael Pearce’s award-winning series, set in the Egypt of the 1900s, the Mamur Zapt investigates the murder of an Italian man in the backstreets of Cairo.
The world is changing around the Mamur Zapt, British Chief of Cairo’s Secret Police. It’s 1912 and there’s a war on that no one’s ever heard of. A man is killed. Is this an attempt at – or the beginning, perhaps – of some kind of ethnic cleansing? `One of us’ Morelli may have been, but was he `one of us’ enough? And were the guns in his warehouse anything to do with it? Gareth Owen – the Mamur Zapt – has to find out fast.
And then, as external pressures crowd in, there are other difficult questions. What is Trudi von Ramsberg really doing in Cairo? Not to mention that other noted traveller, Gertrude Bell, or the irritating little archaeologist, T. E. Lawrence? And why has the post of Khedive’s Librarian suddenly become so important?
Owen is just the man to solve these problems. He is less successful, though, with his relationship to Zeinab, especially now that she’s approaching thirty.
As Cromer’s Egypt gives way to Kitchener’s Egypt, Morelli is not the only one who has problems over where his allegiance lies. Maybe the solution is for Owen to go to Zanzibar…
Book 14
A classic murder mystery from Michael Pearce’s award-winning series, set in Egypt in the 1900s, in which the Mamur Zapt confronts the secrets of his past.
It is the beginning of the war and the Mamur Zapt, Gareth Owen, British head of Cairo’s secret police, is called in to investigate a human corpse abandoned in a cat cemetery. Is the villagers’ talk of a mysterious Cat Woman mere superstitious nonsense, or something rather sinister?
The Mamur Zapt is preoccupied with missing guns and dubious ghaffirs, but the face in the cemetery refuses to go away. And Owen comes to realise that it poses questions that are not just professional but uncomfortably personal…