The Winter Thief (Kamil Pasha Novel)

January 1888. Vera Arti carries The Communist Manifesto in Armenian through Istanbul's streets, unaware of the men following her. When the police discover a shipload of guns and the Imperial Ottoman Bank is blown up, suspicion falls on a socialist commune Arti's friends organized in the eastern mountains. Special Prosecutor Kamil Pasha is called in to investigate. He soon encounters his most ruthless adversary to date: Vahid, head of a special branch of the secret police, who has convinced the sultan that the commune is leading a secessionist movement and should be destroyed--along with surrounding villages. Kamil must stop the massacre, but he finds himself on the wrong side of the law, framed for murder and accused of treason, his family and the woman he loves threatened.

Exploring the dark obsessions of the most powerful and dangerous men of the dying Ottoman Empire, The Winter Thief also reflects the mad idealism of those turbulent times.

"Set in 1888, White's gripping third thriller to feature Turkish detective Kamil Pasha (after The Abyssinian Proof) will appeal to fans of Laura Joh Rowland's Japanese historical series. Like Rowland's hero, Kamil serves as a special investigator for his country's ruler (in his case, the sultan of the Ottoman empire), and he must compete for influence with a ruthless and powerful rival. The discovery of a shipment of illegal arms and an explosion and robbery at the Imperial Ottoman Bank compound the sultan's fears about threats to his rule. The challenges mount for Kamil when Vahid, the vicious head of the secret police, frames him for murder before Kamil can go to the Choruh Valley to find out whether a socialist commune is actually a base for revolutionaries. Vahid plots to gain even more control over the empire by being put in charge of a new intelligence service. While there's no mystery about who committed the crimes, the atmospherics and period detail are first-rate." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Exploring the dark obsessions of the most powerful and dangerous men of the dying Ottoman Empire, "The Winter Thief" also reflects the mad idealism of those turbulent times.

A bank robbery and illegal weapons lead Kamil Pasha to uncover a plan to massacre an entire valley.

Jenny White is the author of the Kamil Pasha series: The Sultan’s Sea (a finalist for the Ellis Peters Historical Crime Award), The Abyssinian Proof and The Winter Thief. She is a professor of anthropology at Boston University, specializing in Turkey.