House of Four by Barbara Nadel

The House of Four is the 19th title in Barbara Nadel's Inspector Ikmen mystery series. The novels are set in Istanbul, and often explore the history and culture of the city. I originally started reading them many years ago, when I was planning a holiday to Turkey. The vacation didn't pan out, but I continue to enjoy the books.

The series star is Inspector Cetin Ikman, a middle-aged Muslim police officer with secular tendencies. He is a man who understands the moral uncertain of the modern world, who is as devoted to his several pack-a-day smoking habit and his raki, as he is to his devout wife and large family. He works closely with Inspector Mehmet Suleyman, who was his young protege in the first book, but is now equal in rank and approaching middle-age himself. Unlike Ikman, whose background is humble, Suleyman comes from an old Ottoman family; he is related to Princes and retains many of the social mannerisms and attitudes of Turkey's former Imperial rulers.

As The House of Four opens, a young man who works in a carpet shop is stabbed in the Grand Bazaar, and Suleyman must close off the entire Bazaar.  Meanwhile Ikman has been called to the Asian side of the city to investigate the murder of an elderly woman in her nineties. She and her three older brothers live in a decrepit old Ottoman mansion, called locally the Devil's House.  It has been divided into four apartments, and the siblings have not seen or spoken to each other for decades. When the police try to notify her brothers of her death, they discover that all four siblings have been murdered in exactly the same way--stabbed through the heart.

Nadel is masterful at leading the reader through the complexities of these two plots, while still layering in fascinating insights into Turkey's rich past and complex contemporary situation. Throughout we learn about Germany's role fighting with the Ottomans during World War One, the precarious situation of Greeks living in Turkey, an almost forgotten Ottoman written script, and the secrets of magicians and alchemists.

Indeed, one of the most intriguing elements of Nadel's fiction is its ability to stay abreast with current affairs in Istanbul.  Previous books have included the Gezi Park protests, young men trying to join ISIS, and the rise of the AK Party.

If you like a good murder mystery or are dreaming of a vacation to the Golden City on the Bosporus or both, I would highly recommend this series.

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