London 1854 and the war in the Crimea seems a world away. Ben Canaan has been pulled out of school to work in his family tailors in Whitechapel but he rebels and when a chance encounter with a daguerrotype of a woman he used to know coincides with a need to lie low from the police, Ben finds himself in Constantinople. Suddenly Ben is immersed in a world of intrigue and murder.
This is a wonderfully old-fashioned type of story. Breathless in pace and one where belief has to be suspended, it powers along. If intended as a homage to those old-fashioned tales of derring do, it works perfectly but essentially it's just great fun!

I’m sorry to say I didn’t finish Murder In Constantinople.

I don’t think I was the right audience for this one. I was expecting a historical fiction murder mystery, but this turned out to be more of an adventure story. There’s nothing wrong with that, and on any other day I might have quite enjoyed that. But this time it didn’t work for me.

I gave it a good go but from the beginning, I struggled to get into it. Despite the seemingly fun character of Ben, who spends most of his time getting into trouble. It all felt a bit convoluted, over the top, far-fetched. Quirky, yes. Mysterious, for sure. But somehow just not quite right for me. Sorry.

Thank you for the opportunity, Team Pushkin.

Murder in Constantinople is less a murder mystery (as I’d assumed), and more a fast-paced adventure story - utterly far-fetched, but with enough charm and cheeky winks to the reader to get away with it. Telling a rather unlikely tale of the Jewish son of a tailor who has to flee the country and chooses to find the love of his life, previously thought dead, in Constantinople, uncovering all sorts of major geopolitical shenanigans. And why not. Good fun romp that shot by with hope for a follow-up

I did not think I would enjoy this book but I did! The only thing I think would be better is finding out the identity of the White Death but apart from that, it was a really good book!!

It's 1854 and the Crimean War rages. Ben Canaan, the son of a respectable Jewish tailor, is a bit of a wild lad who falls foul of police and local crime baron, finds himself on his way to Constantinople where the Russians plan to murder the Sultan using a man made plague known as the White Death...er, or something.

Almost completely implausible, full of anachronism and historical error, its plot hackneyed and predictable, this novel nonetheless has a sort of simple charm which does carry the reader along without causing complete offense to intelligence and well being.