Jason Goodwin Literary Salon Berkeley April 21

Join Mystery Readers NorCal (Berkeley, CA) at 7 p.m. on April 21, as we welcome back Edgar Award winning UK Jason Goodwin.  Jason Goodwin is the bestselling author of The Janissary Tree, The Snake Stone, and The Bellini Card, the first three books in his series of novels featuring Yashim. 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 is on a US tour for the fourth in the series, An Evil Eye.

Please RSVP for directions by email or by posting a comment.

In the first three previous novels, Jason Goodwin has taken us on stylish, suspenseful, and vibrant excursions into its exotic territory. Now, in An Evil Eye, the mystery of Istanbul runs deeper than ever before. It’s 1839, and the admiral of the Ottoman fleet has defected to the Egyptians. It’s up to the intrepid Investigator Yashim to uncover the man’s motives. Of course, Fevzi Ahmet is no stranger to Yashim—it was Fevzi who taught the investigator his craft years ago. He’s the only man whom Yashim has ever truly feared: ruthless, cruel, and unswervingly loyal to the sultan. So what could have led Yashim’s former mentor to betray the Ottoman Empire?

Yashim’s search draws him into the sultan’s seraglio, a well-appointed world with an undercurrent of fear, ambition, and deep-seated superstition. When the women of the sultan’s orchestra begin inexplicably to grow ill and die, Yashim discovers that the admiral’s defection may be rooted somewhere in the torturous strictures of the sultan’s harem.

Janet Maslin wrote in The New York Times: “Mr. Goodwin uses rich historical detail to elevate the books in this series . . . far above the realm of everyday sleuthing.”

Join Mystery Readers Thursday night, April 21, as Jason Goodwin talks about the Ottoman Empire, Istanbul and writing.

Location: Berkeley, CA Please email or comment to RSVP

Bouchercon Panel

Just got my Bouchercon panel assignment, and it's terrific. Many of you know that I love mysteries set in other places. As Emily Dickinson wrote, "There is no frigate like a book/ To take us lands away." My panel aptly titled Been Around the World: Travel the globe with Janet and friends will do just that on Saturday October 11, 2008 at the World Mystery Convention in Baltimore, MD.

My panelists include Charles Benoit (India, Thailand, Egypt), Jason Goodwin (Turkey), Arnaldur Indridason (Iceland) and Michael Stanley (Africa). I can't think of a better group of mystery authors. Not only will we travel the globe together, but we'll also go back in history for some of the discussion.

So join me, as we travel the globe on October 11 in Baltimore. O.K. here's the bad news. This panel will start at 8:30 a.m., EDT. That's 5:30 am. PDT for me! If you're coming to Bouchercon, hope you'll join us. If not, I'm bound to write about it. Any questions you'd like me to ask this distinguished list of authors, let me know.