Zoe Ferraris: The Night of the Mi’raj, 9780349120324, Hachette/ Little Brown UK, 2009, paperback
German Edition:  Die letzte Sure, Piper Verlag, Paperback

When talking about unusual crime novels, a friend told me how much she enjoyed Zoe Ferraris series set in Jeddah/Saudi Arabia and recommended I should start with “The Night of the Mi’raj”.  Always on the lookout for new discoveries particularly if not with the latest pub date, I downloaded the book and started reading straight away. 

I was hooked from the beginning and will definitely download the other two, “City of Veils „and “Kingdom of Strangers”.

Set in Saudi Arabia the novel allows a glimpse into the conservative and restrictive world of Muslim women in this country yet revealing how clever and inventive they are in carving out niches of freedom and independence for themselves within the religious system.  I read that Zoe Ferraris lived in a religious community in Saudi Arabia and this experience certainly transpires in the novel.  She has not only created two very likeable characters with investigator and desert guide Nayir and Katya Hijazi, who holds the unusual position of a forensic scientist in the police force but paints a colorful, contemporary portrait of Jeddah.

When Nouf ash-Shrawi, one of the daughter of a wealthy Jeddah family, disappears days before her arranged marriage, her half-brother and Nayir’s friend Othman requests his help in bringing her back home.  Her battered body is found in a Wadi and Othman entrusts his fiancé Katya, the forensic scientist with the Saudi Police, in finding the cause of her death.  But this is not the only surprise Katya and Nayir discover independently from one another when looking into Nouf’s death.  The book is a page turner; I will not write more as it would spoil the fun.  The interaction of Nayir and Katya ruled by religious protocol but with the determination of uncovering the truth is truly fascinating as are the protocols to be observed of the male and female world in this very restrictive Middle Eastern culture which is very foreign to my independent spirit as a Western woman.