The Book: Deadline Istanbul

The Author: Peggy Hanson

The Story: Elizabeth Darcy is in the world’s most intriguing city to cover for old friend and fellow correspondent Peter Franklin, found dead in the Bosphorus. She’s convinced it wasn’t an accident.

But uncovering secrets can be a dangerous business. Are spies involved? Criminals? Where does religion become politics, and vice versa? And who are those men following her? Danger stalks her through the ancient streets. Elizabeth will be lucky to return safely to Washington. Fortunately, she has her Jane Austen book and the cat Sultana to hold onto-as long as that comfort lasts.

“When journalist Elizabeth Darcy travels to Istanbul to investigate the death of a friend and colleague, she is quickly immersed in a Byzantine world of secrets and deception.

Peggy Hanson’s evocative description of this city of minarets and sultan’s palaces is as vibrant and rich as a multi-colored Turkish carpet.” – Ellen Crosby, author of Multiple Exposure “Deadline Istanbul introduces a smart, determined new detective, a newspaper reporter with a can-do spirit and a sense of humor. Istanbul itself, ancient and modern, filled with its own mysteries and contradictions, comes to life in Peggy Hanson’s admirable novel.

About Peggy Hanson:

Peggy Hanson is an author and travel blogger who loves to share her international life with her readers. Peace Corps,Voice of America, teaching of English–all these have played major roles in her life. Growing up in a series of small towns in Colorado, the daughter of a mountain-climbing Congregational minister and teacher, probably helped mold her affinity to nomadism. In her adult life, she’s lived for extended periods in Turkey, Yemen, India and Indonesia.

Her first two books are mysteries in the Elizabeth Darcy series set in other countries: DEADLINE ISTANBUL and DEADLINE YEMEN. She is currently working on the third in that series, DEADLINE INDONESIA, and is also compiling and editing her great aunt Mary’s diaries and letters and pictures from 1888-1920 when she was a missionary teacher and principal in the Balkans. The working title of the diaries is MISS MATTHEWS OF MACEDONIA. It is a story of early feminism and a woman’s bravery in the face of war.

In the past, Peggy has contributed travel articles to magazines in India. Recently she has started travel blogging for journeywoman.com and travelgogirl.com. Her most recent blog is entitled THE TURKISH DELIGHTS: Women to Travel With, Women to Love.

When time permits, Peggy leads groups of friends to Turkey. And she travels with her economist husband and with a group of close friends who call themselves The Delights. Read the blog on travelgogirl.com to learn more about that group of amazing women! Peggy lives near Washington D.C. with her husband and two energetic kittens. peggyhansonauthor.com

Review by Nancy:

Istanbul is the ideal setting for a murder mystery, and Peggy Hanson not only knows the city well, but knows how to convey its magic. Her heroine’s search for a killer takes her down dark, cobbled side streets, to picturesque fish restaurants along the Bosphorus, and into the tiled splendors of Topkapi Palace.

A book for fans of the classic whodunit and the modern thriller, it features an international cast of diplomats, journalists, businessmen, museum curators, terrorists, and a few characters with identities too murky to pin down. The story will also appeal to armchair travelers, but reader beware: as the murders start to pile up, it’s hard to turn the pages slowly and savor the scenery. An elegantly written and masterfully plotted debut novel.

Review by Liz in Santa Fe: The intrepid Elizabeth Darcy (Jane Austen ever-present in her luggage) finds herself in Istanbul and quickly becomes ensnared in a hornet’s nest of intrigue and personal entanglements.

As in the first Elizabeth Darcy mystery, Hanson makes excellent use of quotations from dear Jane and keeps the short and dynamic chapters coming at the reader at a fast pace, even while she paints the beautiful montage of one of the great cities of the world. And the food is mighty tasty, too! And the art, and the cat… Love it!