A Memento for Istanbul

A cloud laden with gloom hangs over the City of Seven Hills, and seven victims have drawn their last breath… An extraordinary murder committed on the historical peninsula spurs Chief Inspector Nevzat into action. The killer, leaving an antique coin in the victim's palm, delivers messages through the corpse and expects them to be deciphered. Soon, other victims follow, all part of the same murderous ritual: each victim holds a coin and is left in front of a historical monument, dating back to the reign of an emperor who ruled during the city's golden eras. The victims have something in common: they all have betrayed Istanbul. But what about the killer? We were looking at what we have lost along with our city, and we were looking at one another. Byzantium, Constantinople, and Istanbul... Owners and inhabitants change, new names are acquired, different characters assumed, but one thing remains unchanged on the historical peninsula: its timeless beauty. In A Memento for Istanbul, Ahmet Ümit places this now-threatened beauty at the center of the story. While hypnotising the reader with a high tension detective novel, through the historical insights he shares, he also strives to revive the consciousness of being an Istanbul citizen to the core. We were looking back at the city from out at sea. The sea was shrouded in a mist, our boat hidden from view; Istanbul was lost in the mist. Only the minarets of Sultanahmet Mosque, the dome of the Hagia Sophia and the turrets of Topkapı Palace were visible above the haze. The city seemed pure and untouched; unharmed, unblemished, the white of the mist veiling everything and anything which could blight the view. It was like a vision from one of the myths of old, emerging for a fleeting moment before the light of the day… A newly founded city, a new start, shimmering in the grey light of dawn… Young, vibrant, full of hope…