Jason Goodwin

Jason Goodwin is a British author, historian and travel writer whose work concentrates on the Ottoman Empire, Byzantium and the cultural connections between Europe and Asia. He studied Byzantine history at the University of Cambridge and later travelled through China and India while researching the history of tea. His account of walking from Poland to Istanbul, On Foot to the Golden Horn, won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, while Lords of the Horizons presents an accessible narrative history of the Ottoman Empire.

Goodwin is best known for the Yashim historical mystery series, beginning with The Janissary Tree, which won the 2007 Edgar Award for Best Novel. Set principally in nineteenth-century Istanbul, the novels follow Yashim, an investigator connected to the Ottoman court, through crimes involving palace politics, diplomatic rivalry, religious communities and the tensions created by imperial reform. The series continues with The Snake Stone, The Bellini Card, An Evil Eye and The Baklava Club, combining mystery plots with detailed depictions of Ottoman food, customs and urban life.