Murder in the Grand Bazaar: An Intellectual Thriller

Murder in the Grand Bazaar: An Intellectual Thriller

Available now in ebook on Kindle, Nook, and Kobo. 

and in paperback at Amazon and Barnes and Noble!

Type of work: Book, novella + afterword

Genre and key words: Thriller, early Christian history, LGBTQ+
Eras and Settings: Late twentieth century Istanbul/ First century Palestine

Rating: Mature

ISBN#   9798218222512 (ebook) available now 

                

 ISBN#    9798218291211 (paperback) available now

Website: https://www.storyrocket.com/murder-in-the-grand-bazaar-an-intellectual-thriller

Short description:

Felix Markarian, a gay American scholar, comes to Istanbul to see a dealer who holds an ancient book. When the dealer turns up dead and the book is stolen, Felix is plunged into a dangerous world of police, thieves and killers, where nothing and no one is what they seem.

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simile of Book's cover

Longer description:

Felix Markarian, a young, gay American professor, arrives in Istanbul near the end of the last century to meet an antiquities dealer who needs an expert eye to appraise an ancient book, called a codex. But when a pair of police detectives tell Felix that the dealer has been murdered and the book was stolen, he is pulled into a dangerous world where nothing and no one is what they seem. Recruited by the detectives to help solve the case, Felix finds romance as well as danger when he and one of the detectives are mutually attracted.

Kidnapped by someone he thought he could trust, Felix meets the criminal mastermind now in possession of the codex, who forces Felix to unlock its story. Felix's life depends on taking us back to the time of Jesus and his mysterious friend known as the Beloved Disciple.

Murder in the Grand Bazaar: An  Intellectual Thriller, combines the deadly intrigues of antiquities smugglers with revelations about early Christian history.

Characters:

 1997 A.D.

                    Ahmet Tatlık, Turkish antiquities dealer (60s)

                    Felix Markarian, gay American professor of biblical languages (age 28)

                    Maurice Bertin, French archeologist (50s)

                    Yusuf Çelik, Istanbul police inspector (about 30)

                    Mustafa Demir, Istanbul police sergeant (early 30s)

                    Viktor Ivanenko, Ukrainian oligarch (late 40s)

                                                                   

33 A.D.

                     Jesus Christ (30s)

                     Peter, disciple of Jesus (30s)

                     Lazarus, a wealthy youth from Bethany (early 20s)

                     Mary, sister of Lazarus, the Bethany youth (early 20s)  

                    

Review(s):

Murder in the Grand Bazaar lists itself on its cover as, An Intellectual Thriller and it succeeds in spades. It interweaves the complexity of the early history of the Christian church and its relationships to the gospels, all wrapped in the maze of a Turkish bazaar, tied up in an ancient manuscript. At the same time, we are shown how in the first centuries conflicts arose as to how the church saw itself, and wanted to be seen.

This picture of winners and losers is the pursuit of the intrepid Professor Felix Markarian, classicist and polyglot, with a nose for ancient codices. He is off to Istanbul to review a newly discovered text that may overturn our understanding of the gospels and is in the hands of a dealer that operates in the shadows of the law. Felix gets wrapped up in a murder case, the intrigues of the Turkish police, and international antiquities smugglers.

Action and subterfuge carry the novel, but the most admirable quality of Murder in the Grand Bazaar is how the convoluted history of what did and did not become the gospels is deftly woven into the story. The details and trivia never interfere with the pacing, and Felix is never abandoned to the facts of the past. He is immersed in them, and his excitement for what the codex and history can reveal spills over to the reader, leaving us with a possible new interpretation of the gospels. Hopefully Felix will grace us with more insights in his next adventure.

        —Les Bares, Richmond, Virginia (retired high school English teacher)

Although this story is more cerebral than cryptic, more delicate than dangerous, it’s skillfully written and lays the groundwork for a welcome sequel.

—from BlueInk Review 

Sample of "Murder in the Grand Bazaar"

Sample of my yet to be published time-travel novel "Crime of the Centuries"

Sample of my screenplay for "Tennessee Quake," a disaster movie 

 "Murder" around the Water Cooler: Reactions and Random Thoughts

My favorite books (some of them)

                                                                                My bio

milesfowler71@gmail.com