The Doves Necklace - A Novel

Raja Alem

Summary

When the body of a young woman is discovered in the Lane of Many Heads, an alley in modern-day Mecca, no one will claim it, as they are ashamed of her nakedness. As Detective Nasser pursues his investigation of the case, seemingly all of Mecca chimes in—including the Lane of Many Heads itself—in this “surreal, meditative take on a murder mystery” (The Guardian, Best Books of Summer). Nasser initially suspects that the dead woman is Aisha, one of the residents of the area, and searches her emails for clues. The world she paints embraces everything from crime and religious extremism to the exploitation of foreign workers by a mafia of building contractors, who are destroying the historic areas of the city. Another view reveals the city through the eyes of Yusuf, Aisha’s neighbor, increasingly frustrated by the accelerating pace of change. As gripping as classic noir, nuanced as a Nabokov novel, and labyrinthine as the alleys of Mecca itself, this brilliant fever dream of a novel masterfully reveals a city and a civilization in all its contradictions, at once beholden to brutal customs and uneasily coming to terms with new traditions.

Available since: 05/03/2016.

Print length: 600 pages.

Other books that might interest you

The First Murder

Carol Goodman Kaufman

The ME ruled her death an accident. He was dead wrong.
 
When Mary Jane Bennett is found dead in her bed— alone, strangled by her own scarf, and with every door in the house locked — the medical examiner rules her death accidental, the result of a sex game gone horribly awry. State police decline to investigate further, but Queensbridge Police Chief Caleb Crane doesn't buy for a minute that his good friend died this way, so he undertakes his own investigation. Facing town councilors afraid of bad publicity, an angry medical examiner, and his own personal demons, he labors to solve what he believes is the first-ever murder in his pastoral Berkshire Hills village. Complicating things: the list of suspects includes some of the people to whom he is closest — including his own wife.
 
“. . . [a] smartly-paced debut novel . . .”—Gerald Elias, author of the Daniel Jacobus mystery series
 
“. . . one of my favorite mystery reads this year . . . With a talent reminiscent of Louise Penny, Kaufman creates a small town ambience of alliances and hidden resentments among characters whose humanity draws you in while raising your suspicions. The First Murder is an engaging and intriguing journey to an exciting conclusion.”—Sharon Healy-Yang, author of the Jessica Minton Mystery Series
 
“. . . [a] deftly constructed debut novel [that] kept me guessing until the very end.”—Leslie Wheeler, award-winning author of the Berkshire Hilltown Mysteries

Show book

A Slice of Murder

Marissa De Luna

A groom-to-be is cut down at his engagement party, and solving the case won’t be a piece of cake . . . Shilpa Solanki’s talent is making sure that special occasions are accompanied by special cakes, and her first booking after her move to Devon, England—where she’s inherited a house in Otter’s Reach—is a posh engagement party for Mason Connolly and Harriet Drew. Unfortunately, a knife has been used for something other than cutting the cake. Now Shilpa is working to uncover layers of secrets and scandals in hopes of identifying the killer who permanently parted Mason and Harriet—and before she’s done, someone else might get iced . . .

Show book

The Malykant Mysteries -...

Charlotte E. English

To catch a killer, send a monster.
 
There's a realm. Wreathed in ice and snow, drowning in the dark, Assevan needs a different kind of hero.
 
There's a god. Merciless and cold, and quick to anger, the Lord of the Dead insists upon one thing only: vengeance for a murdered soul.
 
And there's a man. A ruthless killer, Konrad is detective, judge and executioner in one. Dauntless, relentless, monstrous, he stands alone against the dark.
 
Meet the Malykant. Justice will be served. 
 
For the first time, all twelve Konrad Savast murder mysteries are collected in one volume! This gigantic compendium includes:
 
DEATH'S DETECTIVE: The Rostikov Legacy, The Ivanov Diamond, Myrrolen’s Ghost Circus and Ghostspeaker
 
DEATH'S AVENGER: The Corpse Thieves, The Spirit of Solstice, The House at Divoro and Snowbound 
 
DEATH'S EXECUTIONER: The Zolin Conspiracy, The Tarasov Despite, The Malefic Curse and Shandral 
 
Dive deep into Konrad's icy world. Binge the whole series in one volume.

Show book