Jakob Arjouni Books In Order

Kayankaya Books In Publication Order

  1. Happy Birthday, Turk! (1985)
  2. More Beer (1987)
  3. One Man, One Murder (1991)
  4. Kismet (2001)
  5. Brother Kemal (2012)

Standalone Novels In Publication Order

  1. Magic Hoffman (2000)
  2. Chez Max (2006)

Short Story Collections In Publication Order

  1. Idiots (2003)

Kayankaya Book Covers

Standalone Novels Book Covers

Short Story Collections Book Covers

Jakob Arjouni Books Overview

Happy Birthday, Turk!

A Turkish worker, Ahmed Hamul, is stabbed to death in Frankfurt’s red light district certainly no reason for the local police to work overtime. Kemal Kayankaya, however has a different attitude. He is 26, born in Turkey, raised in Germany and now working as a Private Investigator. He has a German passport but has first hand experience of resentment against foreigners and now Hamul’s wife, Ilter, has hired Kayankaya to find out who murdered her husband. In the 3 days it takes him to wrap up the case, he has time to identify Ilter’s sister as a hero*in addict, track down Ahmed’s girlfriend a prostitute, link his father in law’s fatal accident three years earlier to an ingenious police cover up, and still survive beatings, gas attacks, and a close encounter with a Fiat.

Kismet

Introducing Kemal Kayankaya, a wise cracking private detective in Frankfurt aka, ‘the ugliest town in Germany.’ As a Turkish immigrant raised by Germans, he’s regularly subjected to racism in the gritty, working class city, and getting work isn’t easy. So when his friend Romario asks Kayankaya to protect him against thugs demanding protection money from his restaurant business, the down and out Kayankaya takes the job. Except these are no ordinary thugs. They turn out to be battle hardened Croatian nationalists looking to take over the rackets in Frankfurt, and they do not take kindly to Kayankaya’s interference with their plans. But try as he might, Kayankaya just can’t seem to stay out of their way What ensues is a brilliant novel about organized crime, immigration, the fallout from the Balkan wars, and the madness of nationalism from one of Europe’s finest crime writers.

Related Authors

Leave a Comment