Inspector Ikmen Books In Order

Publication Order of Inspector Ikmen Books

The Inspector Ikmen Series is a crime series written by popular author Barbara Nadel. The series is made up of fourteen books with a fifteenth book that has recently been released. All the books in her series feature the character Inspector Ikmen as the protagonist. The novels seem to revolve around his life as an inspector. He gains a lot of interest in the murder of Leonid Meyer, an elderly Jew who moved to Balat in Istanbul to escape the bloodbaths in Europe at the time. His move however did not benefit him much as he ends up dead in Balat. Inspector Ikmen is however not convinced that Leonid Meyer’s death was due to his race. He takes it upon himself to solve the murder. He begins his quest by tracking down the people that were acquainted to the victim with a bid to join the pieces of the puzzle and solve the mystery. Some of the people Inspector Ikmen thinks might help in solving the mystery include; a Russian family of émigrés, a faded prostitute and a despairing rabbi among others. Author Barbara Nadel began writing this book series in the year 1999 with the first book, Belshazzar’s Daughter. The series was completed after she wrote and published thirteen books the final being Dead of Night published in 2002. The character Inspector Ikmen is introduced as an inspector working in Turkey.

Inspector Ikmen and his Sergeant Mehmet Suleyman face a lot of ups and downs on their quest to solve the murder of the elderly Jew in Balat. There are however great twists and turns to this story that makes it quite the page turner. In a surprising turn of events, we see the inspector and his sergeant interview a Russian lady who never seems to leave her bed. The interesting thing about this is the turnout of the interview. It is very interesting to see how every event unfolds. The author does a very good job of keeping her readers in suspense which is fantastic. The way the author describes Istanbul is also very creative and works in giving the story life and a bit of exotic touch. Inspector Ikmen is also pictured quite differently from the stereotypical cops we tend to read about who work extra hard and keep their life in check to solve mysteries and get ahead in their careers. In the Inspector Ikmen series, Inspector Ikmen is a character that drinks too much, has a quite dependent father and also has 8 children. This is no simple life when compared to the inspectors that are written about in crime series. However, the interesting thing about this character is the fact that he is able to juggle everything around and still focus on his job. Later in the story, Inspector Ikmen and his sergeant find an important link that might help them in solving the murder. This link is Natalia and Robert. The former had been convicted for assaulting a Jewish Lawyer and the latter’s connection to the victim was the fact that his grandmother had been the victim’s lover. The link suggests that the murder might have been either a racial attack or a crime of passion. However, the two seem to be leaning more towards the crime of passion side.

Inspector Ikmen is featured in several books in the series among them being; Ottoman cage, Arabesk, Deep Waters and Harem among others. Harem is the fifth book in the series. In this book, a teenage girl’s body is discovered in a cistern in Istanbul and Inspector Ikmen is put in charge of the case. He is very committed to solving this case due to the fact that the young girl was her daughter’s friend and also because he promised her mother to solve the case. He is however moved from that case and reassigned a new case revolving around the kidnapping of a movie star’s wife. Upon investigating, Ikmen realises that the movie star is hiding something big which becomes a concern to his superiors as well. The interesting thing about this is the fact that the secret is something that all sides of the law are willing to do everything in their power to ensure it stays a secret. This makes the case quite difficult for the inspector. It is interesting to see how he goes about the new clues and obstacles he faces in this particular book. In this book Barbara Nadel manages to keep the audience intrigued by the constant play of suspense.

Deep Waters is yet another interesting book in the Inspector Ikmen series. This book starts when a body of a man that is decapitated is discovered in the Bosphorous. His identity card that is found at the scene of the crime identifies the man as an Albanian which is evident by his name, Rifat Berisha. The Albanian family is quite impenetrable. However, Inspector Ikmen seems to have an upper hand seeing that his mother is Albanian. After talking to his cousin Samsun, there is no doubt that Rifat Berisha’s was the result of a blood feud between Albanian families. This means that if blood has already been shed, the Berisha family will have to take revenge. This puts the inspector in a very bad situation since his life is on the line if anyone comes to find out that he is also of Albanian descent. This makes the book very interesting because it puts the protagonist in a position where he might lose his life but at the same time needs to keep his head in the game and solve the murder. It is also very interesting to see how Inspector Ikmen hits his highs and lows in this case and deals with his not so easy family life at the same time. Fans of thrillers and crime novels will definitely enjoy this book. It is a book that has received very high ratings and upon its release, the author’s fans were eagerly waiting for the release of the next book.

Barbara Nadel is an author who has managed to capture and maintain her audience’s attention with every book she has published. All her books that make up the Inspector Ikmen series are true works of imagination and originality.

One Response to “Inspector Ikmen”

1. Mrs Gwenda Jeisman: 3 years ago

   What happens to Suleymans second wife, the mother of his son………

   Reply