The Face in the Cemetery

Egypt, 1914. The outbreak of war in Europe casts ripples that can be felt even in Cairo. Gareth Owen, the Mamur Zapt and Head of the Secret Police, is given the unhappy task of rounding up enemy aliens. And then there's the face in the cemetery. A cat cemetery, at that. Who disturbed the mummified remains by placing a human corpse among them?

Owen would prefer to leave these matters in other hands. He has more pressing concerns in the shape of missing guns (missing? in war time?) and dubious gun-toting ghaffirs. But the face in the cemetery refuses to go away, and Owen comes to realize that the questions it poses are not just professional but uncomfortably personal.

"Once again Michael Pearce has created a complete world, peopled with very real characters. His wit and lively dialogue. . . make this one of the most enjoyable long-running series."
SUSANNA YAGER,' Sunday Telegraph'