The Sleuth of Baghdad [Paperback]

Charles B. Child (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2002

Inspector Chafik J. Chafik of the Baghdad police was the creation of Charles B. Child (1903-1993), the pseudonym of British author Claude Vernon Frost. As a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Airforce he worked with Military Intelligence in Iraq during the Second World War. Child wrote that Inspector Chafik was a composite of associates whom he met in the Middle East, whose "agile minds" could "wind through a complicated maze."

Beginning in 1947, the Chafik stories were some of the most popular features in Collier's Magazine, and many were reprinted in the annual Best Detective Stories of the Year. The stories about Chafik, his wife Leila, and his adopted son Faisal whom he found on the streets of Baghdad are superlatively constructed exercises in detection, but they have a more subtle level. They are also explorations of a culture and a time and place. The stories begin when the British still influenced Iraqi politics, and continue through the period of the monarchy and the country's attempts to identify its place in the world. Many years ago, Frederic Dannay ("Ellery Queen") lamented that there was no book collection of the Inspector Chafik stories. We are delighted to publish this First Edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: Crippen & Landru Pub (July 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885941757
• ISBN-13: 978-1885941756
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,454,319 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Moderately Entertaining Stories in an Ugly Package, March 25, 2003

By 

A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Sleuth of Baghdad (Paperback)

My first instinct on picking up this book was to wonder why a publisher would go to so much trouble to collect and resurrect these stories only to package them so unattractively. The utterly amateurish cover and inside typography detracts a great deal from the enjoyment of the book, which collects 15 of the roughly 34 Inspector Chafik stories published in Colliers, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and John Bull between 1947 and 1969. Set in post-WWII Iraq, the stories feature a cunning Baghdad police inspector. Drawing on his wartime experience in Iraq, Child created a kind of stereotypical genius inspector who's smarter than everyone else and has those abstract leaps of intuition that are the mark of the brilliant fictional detective. Fortunately, he's not infallible, and in several stories must be rescued by his faithful assistant or his adopted son. In each, there is an initial murder which Chafik tackles, although sometimes he metes out his own form of justice rather than proceeding strictly according to law. The stories need to be read slowly over time, otherwise they tend to blur into each other as the author's style and construction is unvaried throughout. As a portrait of Baghdad, it's occasionally insightful. For example, in the stories Chafik deals with Armenians, Greeks, Sunnis, Shi'ites, city folks, villagers, rich, and poor. In that sense it does a good job of showing the diversity that exists in may Arab cities, but otherwise it's a fairly static and romanticized picture of Baghdad just before rapid modernization hits. Altogether, a moderately diverting collection of old-fashioned stories in an unusual setting.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT COLLECTION, August 12, 2002

By 

L rodolfo molina B (GUATEMALA, GUATEMALA Guatemala) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Sleuth of Baghdad (Paperback)

Crippen landru continue their LOST CLASSICS series with a great adition, the Child stories. They are good puzzles and will provide a great read in a caracther you probably wont know but will want another collection after reading this one. BUY IT!