The Mouth of the Crocodile: A Mamur Zapt mystery set in pre-World War I Egypt

By Michael Pearce

“A lovingly detailed portrait of Egypt during the Great War. The result is a bit like a police procedural reimagined by Douglas Adams” Kirkus Reviews on The Bride Box
Atbara, Sudan, 1913. A dead man is fished out of the River Nile. An accident – or something more sinister? A visiting Pasha from the Royal Household believes it was murder – and that he himself was the intended target. He insists that the Mamur Zapt, Head of the Khedive’s Secret Police, escorts him on his return train journey to Cairo, for protection. It’s to be an eventful voyage. Matters take an unexpected turn when the train is stranded in the desert following a sandstorm. With the help of English schoolboy Jamie Nicholson, the Mamur Zapt pursues his investigations, convinced that at least one of his fellow passengers has a secret to hide. And what was the Pasha really doing in that remote corner of the Sudan? Could the Mamur Zapt’s deepest fears be true? Could he really be about to uncover a conspiracy against the British?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Severn House Digital
• Release date: Mar 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781780106144

Michael Pearce

Michael Pearce was raised in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, where his fascination for language began. He later trained as a Russian interpreter but moved away from languages to follow an academic career, first as a lecturer in English and the History of Ideas, and then as an administrator. Michael Pearce now lives in London and is best known as the author of the award-winning Mamur Zapt books.

Reviews for The Mouth of the Crocodile

[auntie0nanuuq · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I ♥ the Mamur Zapt stories, usually there is a humorous undercurrent, but I didn't find that it this book so much.....A young British boy is pushed but manages not to fall into the river, not so however one of the Pasha's men.On a train through the Sudan during a haboob (sandstorm), the Pasha's briefcase is stolen. The briefcase carries "secret" plans of the Khedive, which would provide for a new rail system of a smaller gauge that would not be compatible w/ the current British Railway system.Also on the train is the Mamur Zapt and a friend (who is w/ the railway) seeking to protect the Pasha & the briefcase.The entwining side stories are interesting: The young girl who want to be emancipated & urges the Pasha's paramour to run away; her father who is connected to the briefcase & a political extremest group; the dead man & his family; Sudanese men w/ motives; & the Mamur Zapt's "men" one whose wife is not only the "boss" but a financial wizard and the other who dislikes all political/governmental higher ups doing his best to confound them, but doing his best against the criminals as well.