Zoë Ferraris

Stumbling upon the drowned body of Nouf, the teenage daughter of a prominent, wealthy Saudi Arabian family, Nayir, a desert guide hired by her family to search for her, feels compelled to discover what really happened to her, working with Katya Hijazi, a lab technician at the coroner's office, to find out what life is really like for women in a rigidly segregated Middle Eastern society. A first novel.

Finding Nouf

Women in Saudi Arabia are expected to lead quiet lives circumscribed by Islamic law and tradition. But Katya, one of the few women in the medical examiner's office, is determined to make her work mean something. When the body of a brutally beaten woman is found on the beach in Jeddah, the city's detectives are ready to dismiss the case as another unsolvable murder-chillingly common in a city where the veils of conservative Islam keep women as anonymous in life as the victim is in death. If this is another housemaid killed by her employer, finding the culprit will be all but impossible. Only Katya is convinced that the victim can be identified and her killer found. She calls upon her friend Nayir for help, and soon discovers that the dead girl was a young filmmaker named Leila, whose controversial documentaries earned her many enemies. With only the woman's clandestine footage as a guide, Katya and Nayir must confront the dark side of Jeddah that Leila struggled to expose: an underworld of prostitution, violence, exploitation, and jealously guarded secrets. Along the way, they form an unlikely alliance with an American woman whose husband has disappeared. Their growing search takes them from the city's car-clogged streets to the deadly vastness of the desert beyond. In CITY OF VEILS, award-winning author Zoë Ferraris combines a thrilling, fast-paced mystery with a rare and intimate look into women's lives in the Middle East.

A Novel

City of Veils

A secret grave is unearthed in the desert revealing the bodies of 19 women and the shocking truth that a serial killer has been operating undetected in Jeddah for more than a decade. However, lead inspector Ibrahim Zahrani is distracted by a mystery closer to home. His mistress has suddenly disappeared, but he cannot report her missing since adultery is punishable by death. With nowhere to turn, Ibrahim brings the case to Katya, one of the few women in the police department. Drawn into both investigations, she must be increasingly careful to hide a secret of her own. Portraying the lives of women in one of the most closed cultures in the world, award-winning author Zov ́ Ferraris weaves a tale of psychological suspense around an elusive serial killer and the sinister forces trafficking in human lives in Saudi Arabia.

Kingdom of Strangers

* A compelling page-turner with a wonderful central character, which also gives a fascinating insight into the closed world of Saudi Arabia

The Night of the Mi'raj

Night of the Mi'raj

The crime: one scalding afternoon, the mutilated body of a young woman, half naked beneath her burqa, is discovered on a Saudi beach; soon afterwards a Western woman's husband vanishes without trace. The place: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the City of Veils. A city of narrow streets and closed shutters, where nothing is what it seems ;and the Empty Quarter - one of the most beautiful, yet unforgiving deserts on earth. The people: Miriam Walker, alone in an alien culture, desperate to find her missing husband. Katya, a forensic scientist battling the prejudices of a society full of sexual, religious and moral contradictions; and Nayir, devout Muslim, desert guide, amateur sleuth - the man she loves.

Als neunzehn Frauenleichen gefunden werden, ist Ibrahim Zahrami alarmiert - die Zahl 19 hat im Koran eine wichtige Bedeutung. Hat er es mit einem Fanatiker zu tun? Und warum fehlt allen Frauen eine Hand? Gleichzeitig plagt Zahrami privat noch eine ganz andere Sorge: Seine Geliebte, die Undercover-Agentin Sabina Gampon ist spurlos verschwunden und er kann sie nicht mal als vermisst melden, da auf Ehebruch die Todesstrafe steht. In seiner Verzweiflung vertraut er sich seiner Kollegin Kaya an, einer der wenigen Frauen der Polizeistation. Doch Kaya, die auf Hochtouren in beiden Fällen ermittelt, merkt nicht, wie sich langsam die Schlinge um ihren eigenen Hals immer enger zieht ...

Roman

Wüstenblut

Lisi Harrison

* A compelling page-turner with a wonderful central character, which also gives a fascinating insight into the closed world of Saudi Arabia.

Zoë Ferraris

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