Mamur Zapt and the Night of the Dog, The [Hardcover]

Michael Pearce (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1991

The Mamur Zapt, Head of Cairo's Secret Police under British Rule, did not concern himself with routine police matters. His are the intrigues, the shadowy and sinister events aimed at creating political instability--such as the discovery of the body of a dog in a Coptic tomb. This supreme Moslem insult could touch off an explosion among the Christian community. Equally volatile is the visit from an English MP intent upon inspecting the Cromer administration's accounts. It is not a welcome time for a command that Captain Owen, the Mamur Zapt, show the MP's niece the sights. Worse, the sights include a dancing dervish stabbed before the lady's very eyes, which was not what her uncle had in mind. Is this all part of a pattern that could lead to blood on the streets and set Cairo's ethnic communities at each other's throats?
Michael Pearce, who made his much-praised debut in The Mamur Zapt and the Return of the Carpet (Poisoned Pen Press 2001), continues to chart Owen's fortunes with his trademark sly humor and relish for the oddities of Egyptian life.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

First met in The Mamur Zapt and the Return of the Carpet , Captain Gareth Owen is a colonial police officer in British-controlled Cairo. As Mamur Zapt, his job is to keep the uneasy peace between the Coptic and Muslim factions of the city. One night a dead dog is left at a Coptic gravesite. Smarting over the insult, the Copts retaliate and a Zikr , a Muslim dancer, is murdered during a dervish-style ceremony. These incidents land smack on Owen's plate, and lead to increasing violence in the city. That Jane Posthelthwaite, the attractive niece of an influential British politician, was witness to the murder--and, worse yet, in Owen's less-than-protective company--makes for lots of pressure on Owen to find the guilty parties and calm the city down. In a slyly witty and altogether logical manner, Pearce's self-effacing sleuth discovers (through bribes, conversations, stakeouts and deduction) that the strife is due to high-level government sneakiness and abuse of power. Each scene is sharply rendered with local color, and Pearce explains often complex social and political behavior through believable dialogue.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The desecration of a Coptic tomb and the stabbing death of a Muslim dervish--two politically sensitive events that could easily cause destructive rioting between age-old rival sects--test the abilities of Cairo's British Mamur Zapt, otherwise known as Captain Owen. Utilizing his intelligence network and judicious bribes, and paying diplomatic obeisance to Egyptian rulers, the British Consul-General, and regular police, Owen homes in on the party instigating the unrest. Exotically claustrophobic streets, appropriate roundabout rhetoric, and hidden plot convolutions characterize the author's second title ( The Mamur Zapt and the Return of the Carpet , Doubleday, 1990). Moderately absorbing, but not essential.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 184 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday (April 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385415214
• ISBN-13: 978-0385415217
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #538,786 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable and relevant, September 4, 2006

By 

L. J. Roberts (Oakland, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mamur Zapt and the Night of the Dog, The (Hardcover)

Captain Gareth Cadwallader Owen is the Mamur Zapth; head of Cairo's political CID. When a dead dog is placed at the Coptic tomb and a Moslem Zikr dancer is murdered, it is up to Own to find out who is behind the escalating unrest. At the same time, he much find the money to support his investigation, resolve the marital problems of his office bearer, and entertain the niece of a visiting British MP while keeping happy his beautiful Egyptian girlfriend.

Pearce does a wonderful job of conveying the delicacy needed to maintain peace between religious and political factions. This look at the past is very relevant to the present. But he balances that nicely with the humor of Owan's involvement in a marital situation. Pearce creates a wonderful sense of place and period. This is a fairly quick read, but a fascinating one. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Classic, April 6, 2008

By 

Elizabeth Durbin - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Night of the Dog (Missing Mysteries) (Paperback)

This is an enjoyable mystery with great period detail set in a time that not many of us know about. I'm not sure what I enjoy more the story line or the pictures painted of the place and time.

5.0 out of 5 stars How to survive corruption, December 28, 2011

By 

Claude Lambert (Savannah, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Night of the Dog (Missing Mysteries) (Paperback)

Requirements to love the books in this series: you got to love historical mysteries and be amused by murky politics. The books are short, so you must also enjoy reading slowly. It is not like action flicks you can read in half an hour: you got to pay attention. Here is the context of this mystery series. No country has politics as hard to understand as Egypt between 1900 and 1914. The Khedive was an Egyptian Vice-Roy, entirely dependent of the British occupant while the country was still officially under nominal Turkish control. The British were there of course to control Suez. The French retained a large influence, since Napoleon time, principally in legal matters. Every politician was trying to take advantage of the conflicts between Copts (Egyptian Christians) and Muslims. But what dominates the times is corruption at every level of society. The author, Michael Pearce is extremely at ease with all this complexity and plays it by discrete touches: it is a delight to read. The hero is the chief of police for political matters and he is Welsh, honest, and very smart. What is astonishing is that you read this as the memoirs of an insider of the time. We go from a dead dog to the nomination of a Copt minister following very thin political threads. If you are willing, this is a real delight.