December 1888. Vera Arti carries The Communist Manifesto in Armenian
through Istanbul’s streets, unaware of the men following her. The
police discover a shipload of guns and the Imperial Ottoman Bank is
blown up. Suspicion falls on a socialist commune Arti’s friends
organized in the eastern mountains. Investigating, Special Prosecutor
Kamil Pasha encounters a ruthless adversary, Vahid, the head of a
special branch of the secret police. Vahid has convinced the Sultan
that the commune is leading an Armenian secessionist movement and
should be destroyed, along with surrounding villages. Kamil must stop
the massacre, but finds himself on the wrong side of the law, framed
for murder and accused of treason. His family and the woman he loves
are threatened. Exploring the dark obsessions of the most powerful and
dangerous men of the dying Ottoman Empire, The Winter Thief also
reflects the mad idealism of these turbulent times.
Jenny White is the author of The Sultan’s Seal (a finalist for the Ellis Peters Historical Crime Award), The Abyssinian Proof and The Winter Thief. She is a professor of anthropology at Boston University, specializing in Turkey.
