Kati Hirschel, in her thirties, is the proud owner of Istanbuls only crime bookshop. She has learned the corrupt ways of her adored city and soon takes possession of an apartment obtained with the help of a generous bribe to a government official. All is well until a man is found murdered in her dream apartment and Kati becomes the polices primary suspect.
In her second novel, Esmahan Aykol takes us to the alleys and boulevards of cosmopolitan Istanbul, to posh villas and seedy basement flats, to the property agents and lawyers, to Islamist leaders and city officials in fact everywhere that baksheesh helps move things along.