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2007 selection · Mystery & crime

The Janissary Tree

by Jason Goodwin

Edgar Award for Best Novel · Winner

In 1836 Istanbul, eunuch court investigator Yashim is ordered to find four missing officers before the sultan announces a modernized military corps. A murder and signs of the abolished Janissaries draw him through palace politics and a city caught between tradition and reform.

01

Why it matters

Goodwin turns deep knowledge of Ottoman history into an atmospheric procedural about power during institutional change.

02

Read this if…

You enjoy historical mysteries with immersive settings and court intrigue.

03

Ideas inside

Ottoman historyPolitical reformInvestigationCourt intrigue

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