Pretty Dead Things [Hardcover]

Barbara Nadel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 27, 2007

When Emine Aksu, the flamboyant wife of an Istanbul style guru, suddenly goes missing, Inspector Cetin Ikmen's investigation leads him deep into her strange and colourful past. Emine was a hippie when she was younger, who wholeheartedly enjoyed the liberated lifestyle that swept across the city when the western Europeans flooded into Istanbul in the sixties. According to her husband, Emine never really left behind the free love pleasures she discovered back then and he suspects she was visiting an old friend at the time of her disappearance. Meanwhile, Inspector Mehmet Suleyman is called to a terrifying scene at the art deco Kamondo Stairs in the old banking district of Karakoy. The skeleton of a woman has been discovered in one of the large plant containers. Could these two bizarre incidents be linked?

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Trained as an actress, Barbara Nadel is now a public relations officer for Rethink Severe Mental Illness's Good Companions Project. Her previous job was a mental health advocate in a psychiatric hospital. She has also worked with sexually abused teenagers and taught psychology in both schools and colleges. Born in the East End of London, she now lives in Lancashire and has been a regular visitor to Turkey for over twenty years.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Headline Library Hardbacks (December 27, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0755335619
• ISBN-13: 978-0755335619
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,998,856 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another superb Turkish mystery, April 22, 2010

By 

P. Shipman "anthropologist & writer" (State College, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pretty Dead Things (Paperback)

Barbara Nadel is for my money the best of several writers of Turkish mysteries. Her characters are real and thoughtful, the atmosphere of modern Istanbul and hos old Istanbul still influences life there are superb. I cannot recommend this writer or this series highly enough!

5.0 out of 5 stars the city becomes a character, February 18, 2012

By 

A. Braga "Andrea Braga" (Porto Alegre, Brazil) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pretty Dead Things (Inspector Ikmen Mysteries) (Paperback)

Istanbul is one of my favorite cities in the world. Therefore, finding an author that uses the city (its neighborhoods, its ethnic minorities) as characters in her books was amazing. I became addict to Inspector Ikmen and his (always) peripatetical investigations. Is a way of revisiting Istanbul and its cosmopolitan atmosphere while I get to know better its different tribes, urban districts and traditions. All that through well built plots that take place on present tense.

5.0 out of 5 stars Like the Whole Series, a Great read, November 25, 2011

By 

Tom King "Tom" (Silver Spring, Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Pretty Dead Things (Inspector Ikmen Mysteries) (Paperback)

Like the whole Inspector Ickmen series, an intriguing, engrossing read that effortlessly introduces the reader to Istanbul and Turkey along the way. The series has guided my wife and me through two visits to Istanbul and The East, and greatly increased our appreciation for the country's history, culture, and people.