Katie, a crime bookshop owner in Istanbul and an amateur sleuth is German by birth and much of the humour of the book comes from the cultural differences between the two countries. She is feisty, cheeky and very nosy - a good character trait for a would-be detective. Well worth a read as the book is funny and the setting gives the story an original edge.
We have a mutual understanding that Yilmaz buys the newspapers and I buy the goodies from the bakery. Yilmaz always arrives before me, exactly on time. He never passes up an opportunity to berate me for my lack of punctuality, especially as I'm German. I retaliate by saying that Turks always assume that Germans are punctual, hard-working cold fish... Turks are amazed to see a smiling, cheerful German. They love it when I laugh because they think I've become really integrated into the community. I haven't yet convinced anybody that I used to laugh when I lived in Germany.
