The Janissary Tree--A Novel

After they grew too powerful, the Janissaries, an elite palace guard and "the soul of the Empire," were crushed by the Ottoman sultan in 1826. Ten years later they seem to be reemerging, vengeful and dangerous. First, a harem girl is found strangled. Then, men in the sultan's new guard are horribly murdered. The clever eunuch, Yashim, uses his wit and wile to investigate. Stephen Hoye is energetic when interpreting the assortment of eccentric characters, but his overall narration doesn't balance the well-researched historical mystery. When not doing character voices, Hoye's reading is frequently flat, humorless, even ominous when situations don't call for menace. Still, Goodwin offers a vivid conjuring of exotic Turkey and, in Yashim, an original addition to the annals of sleuthing. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

February 6, 2006
Goodwin, the author of a well-received history of the Ottoman Empire, Lords of the Horizons
(1999), makes a welcome shift to fiction with this impressive first of a new mystery series set in the empire's declining decades. In 1836, though the corrupt elite troops known as the Janissaries were crushed 10 years earlier, there are ominous signs that their influence still persists in the twisted alleys and secret places of Istanbul. A series of crimes, including the barbaric murders of several soldiers and the theft of some precious jewels, leads eunuch Yashim Togalu to delve into the past in an effort to separate legend from truth. With special access to all areas of the sultan's royal court, Yashim uses his network of contacts to try to solve the crimes. The author, no surprise, does an excellent job of evoking his chosen locale. While his sleuth's character may be less developed than some readers might wish, no doubt Yashim will emerge as a more rounded figure in future entries of what one hopes will be a long-running series.