Effendi was shortlisted for the BSFA award for Best Novel.
The second book opens with the discovery of a body near the mansion of billionaire Hamzah Effendi, Zara's father. As the new Chief of Detectives, Raf is obliged to investigate—uncovering a past as a child soldier under the infamous Colonel Abad that Hamzah would rather forget. Meanwhile, as agents from Berlin, Washington and Paris battle diplomatically for influence over North Africa's most influential port, its nominal ruler (the young Khedive) is sent on holiday by the Governor General Koenig Pasha—whose cryptic notes Raf is left struggling to understand. The whole city hangs in the balance, and this time it'll take more than Raf to save it.
This novel includes a second narrative dealing with the young Hamzah's actions as a prepubescent soldier, surviving famine and desert to carry out his lethal mission for the mysterious Abad.
Read more about this topic: Arabesk Trilogy