A concubine is strangled in the Sultans palace harem, and a young cadet is found butchered in the streets of Istanbul. It is up to the eunuch Yashim to delve deep into the citys crooked alleyways, and deeper still into its tumultuous past. Brilliantly evoking Isanbul in the 1830s, The Janissary Tree is a bloody, witty and fast-paced literary thriller with a spectacular cast.