The Last Cut

February 1, 2004
Michael Pearce continues to display his mastery of the light historical in The Last Cut: A Mamur Zapt Mystery, in which his quick-witted and personable hero, Gareth Owen, tries to defuse tensions arising from two crimes centered on a major Nile dam. A compelling whodunit, in addition to the usual witty writing and convincing evocation of colonial Egypt, makes this one of the author's better efforts in the series.

March 15, 2004
Witty, intelligent, and charming, Pearce's Mamur Zapt series never fails to please. In the latest installment, the delightful Gareth Owen, Mamur Zapt (chief of the secret police) of Cairo, is called in when one of the city's main dams is sabotaged with a well-placed bomb. It's urgent to find out what happened, since the bombing occurs on the eve of the Cut, a quasi-pagan celebration during which the waters of the Nile are released to irrigate the crops. If the dam is destroyed, the celebration will be a castastrophe. Adding to Owen's worries is the body of a young woman, which has been left on the spot used in past centuries to sacrifice a maiden during the Cut. Now, what with bombings and dead maidens, the locals are worried that the gods are trying to tell them something. Are the tragedies the work of the mythic and mysterious Lizard Man? Owen knows Lizard Man isn't real, but if he doesn't find a logical explanation, panic could rage through Cairo's normally peaceful streets. A gentle gem of a book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)