The Snake Stone

by Jason Goodwin Book 2 in the Yashim the Ottoman Detective series.

First published 2007

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Istanbul, 1838. Sultan Mahmud II is dying while rumours about the future of the empire spread through the capital. A French archaeologist arrives claiming to search for lost Byzantine antiquities, unsettling the city’s Greek community because his knowledge suggests a purpose beyond scholarship. Yashim is asked to discover what the visitor is seeking before the palace is drawn into another political crisis.

When the archaeologist is found mutilated outside the French embassy, evidence makes Yashim the principal suspect. His attempt to clear his name uncovers further deaths and a secret society committed to restoring a Byzantine state. The case links contemporary nationalist ambition to memories of the Greek struggle for independence, forcing Yashim to navigate diplomatic protection, communal loyalties and the hidden history beneath Ottoman Istanbul.