Synopses & Reviews
Cairo, 1910. Captain Owen, The Mamur Zapt, is the head of Egypt's Political CID in the heyday of British Rule. He is ultimately responsible for law and order in the Khedive's Cairo. When the rules, whether obvious or hidden, are flouted, he steps into action although it sometimes looks like he's merely stepped sideways, out of the way.
Now it is the end of the boom, leaving banks beleaguered and borrowers in trouble whether the poorest land-working fellahin or the richest land-owning Pashas. Then a civil servant suspiciously dies at his desk. The whiff of corruption is in the air. Even Owen, supposed to be investigating the affair, appears to be living beyond his means. As he turns to such unlikely allies as the Grand Mufti, the local barber, and the Widow Shawquat, he penetrates to the heart of such sinister organizations as the Khedive's Agricultural Society (?). The rich are tricky, and money speaks louder than words, challenging Owen to use all his skills to stop the Camel of Destruction...
Review
"When Gareth Cadwallader Owen, the Mamur Zapt of colonial Cairo, reaches into his in-box and pulls out the Widow Shawquat's petition that her husband's property be passed on to her son instead of to the distant relative who wants to sell the land out from under them, Owen politely tries to fend her off. He's more concerned with making sense of the suicide of Osman Fingari, a minor functionary in the Department of Agriculture, who swallowed most of a bottle of prussic acid at his desk. Was his job so stressful? No one seems to know exactly what his responsibilities were, or why he was transferred to Agriculture from the Ministry of Public Works, where he registered changes of land use. Could his problems have involved cotton, Egypt's principal export? Owen's investigation leads him to the conflicting but equally devious schemes of the Khedivial Agricultural Society, the Agricultural Board, and foreign investment bankers. Fingari was apparently being squeezed by all of them, and also by his nefarious old school chum Jabir, who needed certain land usages renegotiated (cue the return of the Widow Shawquat). To unravel the byzantine financial and commercial interests of all concerned, Owen must rely on some deft maneuvering by a local pasha, as well as his barber.
Rife with subterfuge, political intrigue, and state-of-the-art business chicanery, circa 1910, with dozens of sly asides and a glimpse of Egypt so pungent you can almost smell the camel dung."
Kirkus Reviews (July 1, 2002)
Review
"When Gareth Cadwallader Owen, the Mamur Zapt of colonial Cairo, reaches into his in-box and pulls out the Widow Shawquat's petition that her husband's property be passed on to her son instead of to the distant relative who wants to sell the land out from under them, Owen politely tries to fend her off. He's more concerned with making sense of the suicide of Osman Fingari, a minor functionary in the Department of Agriculture, who swallowed most of a bottle of prussic acid at his desk. Was his job so stressful? No one seems to know exactly what his responsibilities were, or why he was transferred to Agriculture from the Ministry of Public Works, where he registered changes of land use. Could his problems have involved cotton, Egypt's principal export? Owen's investigation leads him to the conflicting but equally devious schemes of the Khedivial Agricultural Society, the Agricultural Board, and foreign investment bankers. Fingari was apparently being squeezed by all of them, and also by his nefarious old schoolchum Jabir, who needed certain land usages renegotiated (cue the return of the Widow Shawquat). To unravel the byzantine financial and commercial interests of all concerned, Owen must rely on some deft maneuvering by a local pasha, as well as his barber.
Rife with subterfuge, political intrigue, and state-of-the-art business chicanery, circa 1910, with dozens of sly asides and a glimpse of Egypt so pungent you can almost smell the camel dung."
—Kirkus Reviews (July 1, 2002)
Review
"Set in 1910 Cairo, the latest in Pearce's Mamur Zapt series delivers a sparkling treasure for the discerning reader. The story focuses less on its murder plot and more on the cast of amusingly depicted characters: endearing scoundrels, bungling bureaucrats, vociferous women, precocious street urchins, and cunning con men. The suicide of a senior civil servant seems like an open-and-shut case. Osman Fingari was under extreme pressure from his job, and he'd even taken to drinking heavily at lunch with his "new best friends." Colleagues from the Khedival Agricultural Society. But to Gareth Owen, Mamur Zapt (Chief Investigator) of Cairo, things just don't add up. Owen is certain Fingari was murdered, and he's determined to find out whodunit, which means negotiating the notoriously corrupt bureaucracy of Edwardian Cairo. Willing to offend government ministers and upset long-established customs, the Mamur Zapt shakes the case in his tenacious teeth until the truth drops out. Delightful, charming, and completely engaging."
& Booklist (July 2002)
About the Author
Michael Pearce grew up in the (then) Anglo-Egyptian Sudan among the political and other tensions he draws on for his books. He returned there later to teach and retains a human rights interest in the area. In between whiles his career has followed the standard academic rake's progress from teaching to writing to administration. He finds international politics a pallid imitation of academic ones.