The Bellini Card

A Novel

Jason Goodwin

Picador

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Detective.  Polyglot.  Chef.  Eunuch.

Investigator Yashim Returns in this Edgar® Award-Winning Series

 

Istanbul, 1840: the young sultan Abdülmecid believes that Gentile Bellini's vanished masterpiece, a portrait of Mehmet the Conqueror, may have resurfaced in Venice. But it's not Yashim, our eunuch detective, who takes a ship across the Mediterranean. Instead, it's his Polish ambassador friend, Palewski, disguised as an American art dealer.

What begins as a simple inquiry soon turns into a murderous game of deception and suspense, played out among the faded palazzi and sluggish canals of the decaying city. Dealers, forgers, and aristocrats become fatally involved, as the search for the Bellini portrait uncovers a threat to the stability of the Ottoman throne, and the peace of Europe. 

The Paperback Edition Includes an Author Interview, Bonus Inspector Yashim Recipe, and an Excerpt from the Next Inspector Yashim Mystery, An Evil Eye

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Book Excerpts

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Com’era, dov’eraAs it was, where it wasVenetian motto § Never judge a painting or a woman by candlelightVenetian proverb I He sank slowly through the dark water, arms out, feet pointed: like a Christ, or a dervish, casting a benediction on the sea.The stone at his feet hit the mud with a soft explosion, his knees buckled, and in a moment he was bowing gracefully with the tide. He had always been graceful; pliant, too, when fixing a price; a man who traded and left something in the deal for the other fellow.

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Reviews

Praise for The Bellini Card

"As much a literary novel and historical fiction as it is a mystery...The investigation takes these clever, endearing detectives to Venice, where lucky readers are transported to a fascinating period in Venetian history."---USA Today

 

"A toothsome, wryly humorous, and historically accurate view of La Serenissima...Goodwin vividly evokes Istanbul embroiled in change."--Booklist

 

"In The Bellini Card, Goodwin and Yashim really hit their stride.... If you want to completely escape the chilly, dreary modern world, this is the book to take you away."--The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

 

"As labyrinthine as the watery thoroughfares of Venice. Beautifully evocative...Series fans will not be disappointed, and new readers will find themselves seeing out Goodwin’s earlier works."--Library Journal

 

"Escapist fiction at its most seductive."--The Times Literary Supplement (UK)


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About the Author

Jason Goodwin

Jason Goodwin is the bestselling author of The Janissary Tree—winner of the 2007 Edgar ® Award for Best Novel—and The Snake Stone, the first two books in his series of novels featuring Yashim. Goodwin studied Byzantine history at Cambridge and is the author of Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire, among other award-winning nonfiction.

Jason Goodwin

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Available Formats and Book Details

The Bellini Card
A Novel
Jason Goodwin

Trade Paperback

Trade Paperback
Picador
March 2010
Trade Paperback
ISBN: 9780312429355
ISBN10: 0312429355
5 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches, 320 pages
$15.00

e-Book Agency

e-Book Agency
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Sarah Crichton Books
March 2010
e-Book Agency
ISBN: 9781429922722
ISBN10: 1429922729
304 pages
$9.99
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Picador

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