Detective, polyglot, chef, eunuch--Investigator Yashim returns in this evocative Edgar® Award–winning series set in Istanbul at the end of the Ottoman Empire Istanbul, 1838. In his palace on the Bosphorus, Sultan Mahmud II is dying and the city swirls with rumors and alarms. The unexpected arrival of a French archaeologist determined to track down lost Byzantine treasures throws the Greek community into confusion. Yashim Togalu is once again enlisted to investigate. But when the archaeologist's mutilated body is discovered outside the French embassy, it turns out there is only one suspect: Yashim himself. As the body count starts to rise, Yashim must uncover the startling truth behind a shadowy society dedicated to the revival of the Byzantine Empire, encountering along the way such vibrant characters as Lord Byron's doctor and the Sultan's West Indies–born mother, the Valide. With striking wit and irresistible flair, Jason Goodwin takes us into a world where the stakes are high, betrayal is death--and the pleasure to the reader is immense. “When you read a historical mystery by Jason Goodwin, you take a magic carpet ride to the most exotic place on earth.” ― Marilyn Stasio, The new York Times Book Review “Wonderfully entertaining . . . [Goodwin] uses short, punchy chapters and vibrant, atmospheric prose to bring the glory days of the Ottoman capital to life.” ― Adam Woog, The Seattle Times “A sinuous novel . . . Mr. Goodwin uses rich historical detail to elevate the books in this series far above the realm of everyday sleuthing. . . . Yashim moves charmingly across the book's complicated landscape. Whether he is stopping to cook, chat, cogitate, interrogate, or renew old acquaintances at the harem, he is a detective with a difference . . . a warmly appealing character.” ― Janet Maslin, The New York Times “The real pleasure of The Snake Stone lies in its powerful evocation of the cultural melting pot that was nineteenth-century Istanbul. . . . Goodwin's sharp eye combines with a poetic style to bring the city vividly to lief.” ― Clare Clark, The Washington Post “Beguiling . . . You will blissfully lose yourself in Istanbul's winding back alleys and linger awhile in the city's bustling fleshpots and meet Lord Byron's physician as you watch the serenely intelligent and intuitive Yashim investigate.” ― Rod Cockshutt, The News & Observer JASON GOODWIN is the Edgar Award–winning author of the Investigator Yashim series. The first five books― The Janissary Tree , The Snake Stone , The Bellini Card , An Evil Eye , and The Baklava Club ―have been published to international acclaim, alongside Yashim Cooks Istanbul , a cookbook of Ottoman Turkish recipes inspired by the series. Goodwin studied Byzantine history at Cambridge and is the author of Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire , among other award-winning nonfiction. He lives with his wife and children in England. The Snake Stone A Novel By Goodwin, Jason Picador Copyright © 2008 Goodwin, Jason All right reserved. ISBN: 9780312428020 Chapter 1 The voice was low and rough and it came from behind as dusk fell. “Hey, George.” It was the hour of the evening prayer, when you could no longer distinguish between a black thread and a white one, in ordinary light. George pulled the paring knife from his belt and sliced it through the air as he turned. All over Istanbul, muezzins in their minarets threw back their heads and began to chant. It was a good time to kick a man to death in the street. The grainy ululations swept in sobbing waves across the Golden Horn, where the Greek oarsmen on the gliding caïques were lighting their lamps. The notes of prayer rolled over the European town at Pera, a few lights wavering against the black ridge of Pera Hill. They skimmed the Bosphorus to Üsküdar, a smudge of purple fading back into the blackness of the mountains; and from there, on the Asian side, the mosques on the waterline echoed them back. A foot caught George in the small of his back. George’s arms went wide and he stumbled toward a man who had a long face as if he were sorrowing for something. The sound swelled as muezzin after muezzin picked up the cry, weaving between the city’s minarets the shimmer of a chant that expressed in a thousand ways the infirmity of man and the oneness of God. After that the knife wasn’t any good. The call to prayer lasts about two and a half minutes, but for George it stopped sooner. The sad-faced man stooped and picked up the knife. It was very sharp, but its end was broken. It wasn’t a knife for a fight. He threw it into the shadows. When the men had gone, a yellow dog came cautiously out of a nearby doorway. A second dog slunk forward on its belly and crouched close by, whining hopefully. Its tail thumped the ground. The first dog gave a low growl and showed its teeth.  2 Maximilien Lefèvre leaned over the rail and plugged his cheroot into the surf which seethed from the ship’s hull. S