Ahmet Ümit Livres

A range of fascinating archaeological finds from the portable antiquities scheme, this time in Kent.

A thrilling take which moves back and forth through time, from the early days of Byzantium to the thriving metropolis of Istanbul... A corpse is discovered at the base of the statue of Ataturk in old Istanbul, an antique coin left in its hand... But it's not to be the last corpse and the bodies soon begin to pile up... And so the hunt for the killers begins... Seven murders, seven sovereigns, seven coins and seven ancient monuments, with one thread binding them all: the history of one of the world's most mysterious and most dazzling cities.

In the fast-paced novel When Pera Trees Whisper, the Gezi Park Resistance plays an important part in the story, taking readers to the legendary places in Istanbul that had a dramatic role in this massive uprising in Turkey’s very recent history. Darkness… Darkness made much heavier by the cold. From a distance, songs reach his ear, the jovial shrieks of women, exaggerated drunken wails. Someone is cursing, perhaps to the heavens. Perhaps someone is sobbing, and just maybe someone is dying in the midst of this cacophony, this uproar. He doesn’t give a damn. He’s shed it all off; there’s just the rage… He walks without knowing where he is going, engulfed by hatred. That green-eyed monster, jealousy, has clutched his heart in its steely claw and is squeezing away. Women, says a voice from the depths of his consciousness… Women. You cannot play around with them. You think you are playing with them but then the next thing you know, you’ve become the toy. In the street appear the faces of the women he’s had in his life. Their images fall at his feet one by one. All of them with heads hung and eyes filled with grief... All of them heartbroken. He brushes it off, passing over and stepping on them like puddles, but the images fall onto the ground once again. Women, the voice says again. You can never escape them; their spirits will haunt you for the rest of your life...

An excavation of an antique Hittite settlement near the city of Gaziantep in Southeast Anatolia. Inscribed tablets dating back three thousand years and the onset of a string of murders that coincides with their discovery. The confession of an ancient scribe - Patasana. Dark secrets lie hidden beneath the blinding Anatolian sun: the demise of the Hittites and the cruelty of the Assyrians ... modern day Turkey and the the Armenians... spilled fraternal blood and the immutable destiny of the land. An elegy for the land's history of violence and a poem for its rich cultural history...

The Dervish Gate is more than just a thriller, it is a book of secrets. The secret of a passion spanning over seven centuries: a flame first lit between Jelalledin Rumi and Shams of Tabriz. The secret behind a seven hundred year old crime: the murder of Shams of Tabriz. Ahmet Umit&'s use of rich, layered language combined with liberal elements of fantasy strikes a unique chord as he asks intriguing questions on religion and the beliefs of Mevlevi Sufism. With a fresh new perspective, he lays bare the relationship between people and religion, passion and faith, which holds true as much today as it did seven hundred years ago... "There was blood on the stone, a full moon in the sky, the scent of earth in the garden. They were swimming, the trees, in an unsettling chill. It was the time of burgeoning winter roses, the season when the narcissus was in full bloom. Seven men came forth in the garden. Seven wrathful hearts, seven minds seized by hatred, seven finely-honed knives. Seven accursed men trod the space, slicing into seven sections the silence of the garden, toward the wooden door where the victim was unearthed."

Set against the backdrop of the impending First World War, the narrative follows a man from Salonika grappling with a profound dilemma. As the Ottoman Empire teeters on the brink of collapse, he must navigate the conflicting loyalties between his passionate love for a woman and his deep attachment to his homeland. The story explores themes of love, sacrifice, and national identity during a tumultuous historical period.

Aydınlık bir gökyüzü, parıltılı bir denizi, verimli toprakları olan güzel mi güzel bir kent varmış. Bu kenti genç bir Padişah yönetirmiş. Padişah deyip geçmeyin, bizimki, öteki hükümdarlara hiç mi hiç benzemezmiş. Ne asık suratlı ne de savaş meraklısıymış. Yalnızca halkının mutluluğunu ister, ülkesinin kalkınması için çabalar dururmuş. Ama Padişahımız’ın küçük bir kusuru varmış.

Aşkın bütün halleri... Tutkunun aklımızı ele geçirmesi. Kötülüğün en güzel biçimi... Rezil olmaktan duyduğumuz haz... Kırılan umutlarımızın lezzetli kederi... Çiğnenen onurumuzun getirdiği kibir. Vicdan tutulması, bencilliğin son kertesi, yanılsamanın en derin anı... İmkânsız olanın çekiciliği... Yani gönüllü kölelik... Yani insanoğlunun en masum hali... Yani bildiğiniz delilik... Yani en yalansız aşk öyküleri... "Düşümü gerçekleştirdiğimden de emin değilim. Böyle bir düşüm var mıydı, yok muydu, ondan bile emin değilim. Kafam çok karışık. Daha da kötüsü, eskiden Stefan'ı düşündüğümde güzel, iyi, masumiyetle ilgili duygular uyanırdı içimde. Coşkuyla, heyecanla, umutla dolardım. Şimdi büyük bir öfke var. Bazen insanlıktan çıktığımı hissediyorum. Düşündüklerim beni korkutuyor. Gel gör ki düşünmeden de edemiyorum. Olmuyor, beceremiyorum. Bir de oturmuş aşkın saçma olduğunu anlatıyorum. Ben de en az aşk kadar saçmayım. Diyeceksiniz ki seni, aşk saçma biri haline getirdi. Doğru ama ben de direnemedim. Asıl tutarsızlık bende. İnsan aptalca, anlamsız bulduğu bir tutkunun peşinden gider mi? Bak gidiyorum işte. Hâlâ onu arıyorum... Kafam karışık, canım yana yana gecenin bir yarısında bu bara geliyorum, ondan bir iz bulabilir miyim diye..."

Ein atemberaubender Krimi zwischen Berlin und Anatolien, der Archäologie und Mythologie verbindet. Ahmet Ümit haucht mit seinem gefeierten neuen Roman den alten Mythen im Schatten des Zeusaltars und des Pergamontempels neues Leben ein und zeigt uns, dass die Natur des Verbrechens über Zeitalter und Kulturen hinweg beinahe unveränderlich zu sein scheint. Yıldız Karasu, Hauptkommissarin der Berliner Polizei, und ihr Stellvertreter Tobias Becker müssen einen rätselhaften Serienmord im Berliner Pergamonmuseum aufklären und stoßen bei ihren Ermittlungen auf uralte Geheimnisse, die das Leben von zahlreichen Menschen zerstören können. Ein kriminologisches Abenteuer, das sich von den Straßen Berlins bis nach Bergama in Anatolien erstreckt. Als sich dann auch noch eine längst vergessen geglaubte Figur zu Wort meldet, steigt nicht nur bei den beiden Ermittlern die Spannung.