Susan G. (SusanG) -
Helpful Score: 2
A Passion for Killing comes late in Barbara Nadel's Inspector Ikmen series which take place in Istanbul, Turkey. All of the books offer interesting characters, Turkish, Kurd, or Ottoman, that now face life in modern times. They introduce mysteries that put you in the middle of a city and country that are rich in exotic history. This remarkable plot revolves around ancient carpets, Persian, Kilim, or tribal/village, and the surfacing of a carpet that is said have belonged to T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). A second plot involves a serial killer and the investigation takes you to the rural countryside of Turkey. All combine modern forensics and and smart,complex human minds. The involvement of the detectives and suspects in the crimes show the universality of human characteristics, whether they are descended from Ottoman sultans or Turkish peasants or are British or Dutch diplomats stationed in Turkey. The books can be read separately, but reading them in order lets the richness of the geography and the characters unfold slowly.
