A murder mystery with a distinctly Turkish flavor. Aykol has created a wonderful, strong, middle aged female protagonist in Kati Hirschel, and provides many profound insights into western prejudices and their Turkish counter parts. This novel has actually grown in my esteem after a bit of reflection. ( )

Kati Hirschel hat es gut. Nicht nur, dass die zufriedene Besitzerin eines Krimi-Buchladens im hektischen Istanbul auf Anhieb einen Parkplatz findet ("Der Himmel im Himmel ist gnädig! Wie heißt es doch gleich: Wenn seine Schäflein in Not geraten, schickst du deinen Engel zur Hilfe."). Sie ist auch mit Petra Vogel befreundet, die nach dem Mord an einem ebenso dilettantischen wie korrupten Regisseur zur Hauptverdächtigen avanciert. "Logisch, dass ein Mensch, der gerne Kriminalromane liest, auch Lust hat, sie zu verkaufen", heißt es im Debütroman Hotel Bosporus der türkischen Autorin Esmahan Aykol. Und noch logischer, dass so jemand es liebt, Verbrechen aufzuklären! Bis dahin aber muss sich Hirschel nicht nur mit der Mafia herumschlagen, sondern auch mit dem Machotum der heimischen Männerwelt. Wie nebenbei werden dabei im Verlauf der Handlung mit viel Humor und Ironie so manche Vorurteile im deutsch-türkischen Verhältnis auch wieder vom Stammtisch gewischt -- zuerst in der Türkei, wo das bald zum Bestseller avancierte Original erschien, und jetzt auch hier. Hotel Bosporus erzählt vom aufregenden Leben einer Deutschen im Trubel der Türkei, spannend geschrieben von einer Türkin, die zwischen Berlin und Istanbul pendelt. Dieses Spiel mit den (nationalen) Identitäten macht einen Reiz dieses rasant wie ein Kriminalfilm geschnittenen Buches aus. Aber nur einen: Denn die lebendige Art, wie Aykol die pulsierende Metropole am Bosporus mit ihrem Treiben und ihrer Lebenslust (1.000 Kneipen!) beschreibt, macht es uns Lesern fast unverständlich, warum wir eigentlich noch hier in Deutschland geblieben sind, statt bei einer Tasse Tee in Istanbul zu sitzen. So lange Bücher wie Hotel Bosporus allerdings ins Deutsche übersetzt werden, ist es auch hier zu Lande in Straßen-Cafés und Lokalen mit einem Glas guten Weins sehr erträglich. --Thomas Köster

Kati Hirschel, a German-Turkish thriller bookseller, loves to solve a real criminal case rather than standing in her bookstore all day long. Since she just right that an old school friend from Germany, whom has become an actress, comes to Istabul to make a film. The fact that the German director was murdered in the hotel the first night is a stroke of luck for Kati, so she is involved in the investigation from the beginning, thanks to her friend, and she learns everything first-hand from the love-stoned Commissioner. The fact that she also gets caught up in mafia Turkish bosses, makes the whole thing even more explosive. ( )

Non ci siamo proprio. Non è che Sellerio può spacciare qualsiasi ciofeca sotto la copertura della sua elengante copertina blu di Prussia. Il movente ( e dunque l'assassino) è chiaro prima ancora dell'omicidio. Un record! Buona l'atmosfera istanbulina (ma anche in questo caso ci acchiappa di più Markaris). Fastidiosa la protagonista tedesca (che in realtà è turca ed è l'autrice) un po' troppo frivola e senza alcuno spessore psicologico (minimo per carità, nessuno cerca Proust in un giallo! ma un personaggio deve essere credibile). La stessa piattezza e inconsistenza affligge i personaggi di contorno, per non parlare del poliziotto turco la cui unica caratteristica è di non riuscire a tenere allacciati i pantaloni. ( )

This is a murder mystery story set in modern day Istanbul. The German director of a movie to be filmed there is killed - a live electric hair dryer is dropped into his bathtub. An expat friend of the movie's star decides to look into the death on behalf of her friend. She becomes the narrator for the story -- it's written as a narrative. She thinks she's qualified to investigate because she owns Istanbul's only crime fiction bookstore. There's lots of potential here for a good story. Unfortunately it ultimately disappointed me.

The storytelling style is different from most, but the narrator is not that appealing a person. Sometimes she acts stupid or rude or both. She's an annoying flake. She doesn't seem to know whether she's Turkish or German -- she disparages her fellow Germans too some of which may be deserved.

In the end, the mystery is solved (not by dint of hard work), but by an over the top coincidence. The key to the mystery --- why the director was killed -- is revealed in a chance meeting when the narrator goes to Berlin. It's a convoluted solution that is rushed and not well laid out, and the story abruptly ends. Not a clean ending -- not entirely satisfactory -- but the identity of the killer is revealed.

Maybe I was expecting a story like one of Barbara Nadel's Inspector Ikmen mysteries. This work is not in the same league. ( )