The Mamur Zapt and the Girl in the Nile (Hardcover)

~ Michael Pearce (Author) "But," said Owen, "where is the body?..." (more)
Key Phrases: new roses, Mamur Zapt, Ali Marwash, District Chief (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The fifth case (after The Mamur Zapt and the Men Behind) for Captain Garth Owen, head of the British police force in Cairo in the first decade of the 20th century, is less exciting than its volatile setting suggests. Investigating the death of a woman who falls from the pleasure boat of Prince Narouz, Owen, as Mamur Zapt, follows a trail through a thicket of foreign customs, language and touchy royalty. The woman's body is sighted in the water, then it disappears. Lazy officials are suspected of moving it out of their jurisdiction, but it's the royalty who raise the thorniest dilemmas. Owen is given mixed signals from his superiors, who want the case solved and the royals soothed, all at the same time. Less ambiguous in her wishes is Zeinab, Owen's Egyptian lover, who feels considerable sympathy with the free-spirited, unorthodox dead woman and wants her body found. Pearce delights in political and social detail, but he squanders the romantic suspense inherent in both his setting and the conflicts among his cast of characters. The repetitious uncertainties of stuffy British colonials are no substitute for real mystery and adventure.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Like the popular Amelia Peabody series, Pearce's Mamur Zapt stories combine the exotic ambience of nineteenth-century Egypt with intelligent writing, a sense of history, a keen wit, and a genuinely likable lead character. Captain Gareth Owen, head of Cairo's secret police, is faced with a difficult case that could be a political time bomb. The body of a young woman is found washed up on the banks of the Nile, but this isn't any ordinary victim. As Owen soon discovers, she's fallen off a dahabeeyah belonging to Prince Narouz, the probable heir to Egypt's throne. And when the girl's body is stolen from its burial tomb, Owen is quite sure that someone is trying to cover up evidence that will lead to the killer. But he must tread gingerly among the motley cast of characters--his outraged and outspoken mistress, who's withholding her favors until Owen solves the case; the Mamur Zapt's higher-ups; an annoyingly persistent and voluble policeman who's assigned to help Owen; the mysterious and elusive Prince Narouz; and a ragtag bunch of earnest but not always helpful informants. Good fun that will prove popular with Mamur Zapt fans and will win him a few more. Emily Melton

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 234 pages
• Publisher: Mysterious Pr (December 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892965096
• ISBN-13: 978-0892965090
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,941,694 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 5 in The Mamur Zapt Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Book Club Review, January 30, 2008

By	Big Mac - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Girl in the Nile (Mamur Zapt Mysteries) (Paperback)

Book Club Review:

The Mamur Zapt and the Girl in the Nile
by Michael Pearce

Our book club's pick for January was THE MAMUR ZAPT AND THE GIRL IN THE NILE. For December of last year, we had aread a historical novel (SILVER LIES, by Ann Parker) that we greatly enjoyed, and we were hoping to replicate the experience. One of our members had read a couple of books from this series a while ago and recommended them, so we chose this title because it seemed to have some interesting plot lines about women's rights in a Muslim country, which we thought could be interesting.

Sadly, this was not a good way to start the year!

The "Mamur Zapt" is Gareth Owen, head of the secret police in 1910 Cairo, where the British have a large and much-resented presence. The dead body of a woman appears and then mysteriously disappears, and during his investigation the Mamur Zapt has to go underground and deal with the seamy underbelly of Cairo, while also managing "up" to the Egyptian royal family, which has worked out a deal with the English to stay in power.

It all sounds like a good set-up, but there are some real problems. You would think that the Mamur Zapt, essentially the head of a CIA-type operation, would be a really interesting character. He is not. He's boring and has no personality to speak of. He certainly can't carry the book, which is written with a lot of straightforward declarative sentences at almost a grammar school level. The pace is slow and the story not very interesting. As a mystery, it's subpar.

There is an interesting character named Zeinab, a free thinking Egyptian woman who is also the Mamur Zapt's lover. She's passionate and fiery, but the women in the reading group (myself included) found her unbelievable, really more of a man's view of what a fiery woman is than a real flesh-and-blood woman. So, while she's fun to read about and adds some much-needed spice to the book, ultimately she's a caricature.

What WAS somewhat interesting was a look at colonial politics of the time, including the underground movement of Egyptian artists and locals. We were reminded of the plight of women in Muslim countries -- throughout the book, everyone asks Owen why he is bothering to investigate the death of someone who was "just a woman" -- as well as the volatility of the area. The book was written before 9/11, and it was interesting to see the author's perception of Cairo as a Muslim powder keg, where the smallest religious infraction could create a riot. Of course this is fiction, so there may be other views.

All told, we did not enjoy the book and would not recommend it. Even the gentleman who recommended it said, "I can't believe I recommended these books. What was I thinking?" But we forgave him! :)

There are many better mysteries, with better characters, to spend your time with.