Night of the Dog

Praise for The Night of the Dog... "Each scene is sharply rendered with local color, and Pearce explains often complex social and political behavior through believable dialogue."-Publishers Weekly "A vanished world comes alive in Pearce's deft, humorous, elegant prose." -Sunday Times of London The Mamur Zapt, Head of Cairo's Secret Police under British Rule, did not concern himself with routine police matters. His are the intrigues, the shadowy and sinister events aimed at creating political instability-an event such as the discovery of the body of a dog in a Coptic tomb. This supreme Muslim insult could touch off an explosion among the Christian community. Equally volatile is the visit by an English Member of Parliament intent upon inspecting the Cromer administration's accounts. It is not a welcome time for a command that Captain Owen, the Mamur Zapt, show the MP's niece the sights. Worse, the sights include a dancing dervish stabbed before the lady's very eyes. Is this all part of a pattern that could lead to blood on the streets and set Cairo's ethnic communities at each other's throats? Michael Pearce, who made his much-praised debut in The Mamur Zapt and the Return of the Carpet, continues to chart Owen's fortunes with his trademark sly humor and relish for the oddities of Egyptian life.