Death of an Effendi. Michael Pearce

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      HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 1999

      Copyright © Michael Pearce 1999

      Michael Pearce asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

      HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content or written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

      Source ISBN: 9780008259341

      Ebook Edition © MARCH 2013 ISBN: 9780007400485

      Version: 2017-09-05

Praise for Michael Pearce

      ‘This series continues to be the most delightful in current detective fiction’

      GERALD KAUFMAN, Scotsman

      ‘Pearce… takes apart ancient history and reassembles it with beguiling wit and colour’

      JOHN COLEMAN, Sunday Times

      ‘Irresistible fun’

       Time Out

      ‘The Mamur Zapt’s sly, irreverent humour continues to refresh the parts others seldom reach’

       Observer

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

       Copyright

Praise for Michael Pearce

1

2

3

       4

       5

       6

       7

       8

       9

       10

       11

       12

       13

       Keep Reading

       About the Author

       Also by Michael Pearce

       About the Publisher

1

      ‘Of course, it’s very quiet there,’ said Owen.

      ‘Just what we want!’

      ‘And picturesque. Flamingoes, pelicans, that sort of thing.’

      ‘Excellent!’

      ‘No crocodiles there now,’ said McPhee.

      ‘Crocodiles!’

      Owen sometimes wished that McPhee would keep his mouth shut.

      ‘There used to be,’ said McPhee. ‘In fact, the lake was famous for them. They were kept almost as pets. The priests used to pamper them, prepare special feasts for them—’

      ‘Crocodiles!’ said the man from the Khedive’s office uneasily. ‘I don’t think His Highness will be happy about that!’

      ‘There aren’t any now,’ said Owen, perspiring. They had been going round and round in the meeting all morning trying to hit on a place and just when they’d got one, that bloody fool of a Deputy Commandant—

      ‘The whole area was sacred to the crocodile god once,’ said McPhee happily. ‘That’s why they named the town after it. Crocodilopolis.’

      ‘It sounds a most unsuitable place to me,’ said the official. ‘I’m sure His Highness wouldn’t want to stay—’

      ‘He СКАЧАТЬ