The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
The Janissary Tree is the first book in a new and exciting mystery series. It is set in the city that sits on the cusp of Europe and Asia, it is Constantinople in the nineteenth century. The year is 1836, and the Ottoman Empire is still thriving as one of the world’s greatest powers.
In Topkapi Palace, the Sultan - “Ruler of the Black Sea and the White, ruler of Rumelia and Mingrelia, lord of Anatolia and Ionia, Romania, and Macedonia, protector of the Holy Cities, steely rider through the realms of bliss” is sitting in the Abode of Felicity. The sultan is awaiting one of his slave girls from his Harem to share his bed, however, the person that comes to see him is not a beautiful girl but is one of the eunuchs, the only men allowed in the inner sanctum of the harem. He informs the sultan that one of the slave girls has been strangled to death. The sultan replies, “Send for Yashim.”
Yashim - scholar, chef, confidante to the sultan, a linguist and a thorough investigator. He is also a eunuch. Yashim is also summoned by the sultan’s seraskier, a vizier who commands the Ottoman Empire’s army. He tells Yashim that in less than two weeks time, the sultan will be reviewing the troops in the New Guard and needs to be able to show the people that the troops are as well disciplined as the former Janissary Corp. The Janissaries were an elite military organization. They were a corps of slaves, young Christian boys who were kidnapped and converted to Islam. However, four of his men in the New Guard have gone missing and one of them has been found - dead in an iron pot! The seraskier has given Yashim ten days to investigate the death.
The Janissary Corp was a formidable force to contend with and they had also grown in power, . As Western Europe’s military was modernizing and using technology, the Janissaries became outdated and unwilling to change. They also feared their power was going to be taken away, so the Janissaries rose up in revolt but were suppressed and defeated in what became known as the Auspicious Incident.
Yashim is helped in his investigation by a Polish ambassador, a transexual dancer, and the Valide Sultan who is the living mother of the Sultan. He is led to the Janissary Tree, a large tree in the city the Janissaries chose as a meeting point. Here, Yashim finds part of a Sufi poem. This in turn, leads him to the Karagozi, a group of mystics in the Sufi sect. Yashim has deduced that the three murders are related to the Janissaries and the poem is giving a clue to the fourth location.
Will Yashim be in time to stop a fourth murder? Are hidden members of the Janissary Corp getting ready to start a new rebellion? Can Yashim solve the murder of the slave girl in the harem? As Yashim gets closer to the truth, he finds that his life is also in danger. This tale of murder and intrigue will keep you rivited and you will not want to set this book down. ~Ernie Hoyt