Michael Pearce: The Mamur Zapt and the Donkey-Vous. London, Collins Crime Club, 1990. First edition, first printing 8 3/4 x 5 1/2 224 pp. Red cloth, gilt. Set colonial Egypt this series involves CID inspector Gareth Owen, the Mamur Zapt of the title. Intriguing and fun entertainment. This is the third in the series.

Pearce was once a teacher in Cairo. His books were fondly liked by the old school of critics such as Symons, Oakes, Coleman etc. This is one of the most distinctive and original sequences in crime fiction. The Mamur Zapt is a title given to a Welsh captain serving in Edwardian Cairo, ostensibly answering to the Khedive (the chief of .the Cairo secret police), but ultimately to his English masters. Gareth Owen’s Welshness allows him an anti-establishment sympathy with the natives. The first book The Mamur Zapt and the Return of the Carpet was published in 1988 and achieved an instant following. Pearce cleverly plays on the tensions created by the cosmopolitan setting, with its mix of religions and social divisions. What interests him is political crime, and Owen has encountered labyrinthine plots and corrupt officials through sixteen increasingly assured books. Readers will find themselves drawn to the entertaining and dry wit of the author.

Condition: Fine in VG jacket with small amount of wear to head of spine and internal nick o/w clean, bright, and tight. Unread