cover image The Mamur Zapt and the Donkey-Vous

The Mamur Zapt and the Donkey-Vous

Michael Pearce. Mysterious Press, $17.95 (265pp) ISBN 978-0-89296-486-4

The setting--Cairo, c. 1908--is everything in this tale of missing persons, which is more successful as armchair travel than as armchair detection. Introduced in The Mamur Zapt and the Return of the Carpet , British Capt . Cadwallader Owen, as head of the political end of police operations, is known as the Mamur Zapt. He is responsible for investigating the disappearances of European visitors from the terrace of Shepheard's Hotel, Cairo's posh watering spot. The incidents are all the more puzzling, since they occur before the eyes of numerous witnesses, including such memorably depicted characters as a snake charmer, a strawberry seller, a vendor of filthy postcards and a bevy of ``donkey-vous'' lads who offer transport on their donkeys. The sleuthing here demands that the reader understand period and place, but does not demand much of the Mamur Zapt and his cohorts, whose fast footwork through Cairo's colorful streets is the most engaging aspect of the solution. (July)