It’s not everyday one reads a mystery written by a winner of the Nobel Price in Literature. It sort of adds weight to the book. As in, this is an important book, people all over the world think it’s great literature, you better like it. I admit that when I first started, I gave up about ten chapters in. I couldn’t follow the story and there just seemed to be too many words.
Since my book group selected it, I felt a compunction to try again. The second time around turned out to be better. I approached the book without as much baggage and made it to the end. I’m still not sure if I liked it or not. In short, the story, set in 16th century Istanbul, is about the murder of Elegant Effendi, a miniaturist working on a secret book for the Sultan. He dies in the first chapter and the job a finding the killer falls to Black, another miniaturist and binder who’s just returned from twelve years of exile. Mind you, he’s not really interested in being a sleuth, all he wants is marry Shekure, the daughter of Enishte Effendi, his maternal uncle.
As the story unfolds, there are more and more complications. We learn all about miniature painters whose job it is to decorate the margins of books with detailed depictions of the story told in the book. Eventually, Enishte Effedi is killed as well and the last part of the book is all about locating the killer among one of three famous miniaturist who’ve worked on the secret book.
