The Snake Catcher's Daughter

Mamur Zapt #8

by Michael Pearce

Someone is running a campaign to discredit Cairo's senior police officials. Is Garvin, the Commandant, playing power games, or is he trying to get to the bottom of the allegations of corruption? What about Garvin's senior deputy, McPhee, a man who might finally be going round the bend? And what of the Mamur Zapt himself? He may be the British head of the city's Secret Police, but is he above suspicion? After all, he does have an Egyptian mistress, placing him not only under the uncomfortable suspicion of having divided loyalties, but bringing him under her own stern scrutiny. Owen's attempts to get answers and avoid political (and personal) embarrassment take him into uncharted territory, the world of Cairo's female rites. And more terrifyingly, into one of Egypt's traditional crafts―snake catching. How do you milk a cobra? Do snakes have ears? Can they be tamed? Can a mere woman fill the traditional role of snake catcher without the undying opposition of the Rifa'i―and without losing the plague of Egypt?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Egypt, Murder Mystery, Historical Mystery, Fiction, Travel

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Michael Pearce grew up in the (then) Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. He returned there later to teach, and retains a human rights interest in the area. He retired from his academic post to write full time.

Reviews

[P.D.R. Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always enjoyed Pearce's dry wit, his excellent dialogue and the way he can make you laugh and think. The details of Edwardian Cairo, the Colonial society and the more colourful Egyptian society also make this an entertaining novel. 'The Snake Catcher's Daughter' is well up to standard. As usual the Mamur Zapt, Gareth Owen, has to sort out something nasty in the political line, but as this is Edwardian Cairo the political situation involves many local rogues, not just the Colonial ones.

I started laughing on reading the 1st line: 'One evening when Owen got home he found a girl in his bed.' Of course his real 'girl', Zeinab, uses this to create one of her dramatic fusses which gives rise to more humourous dialogue. Zeinab keeps Owen tied in knots! He can't win, poor man.

Then there's his colleague and Deputy Commandant of the Police, McPhee, disappearing and getting into a nasty situation, a situation which rapidly spreads to involve Owen, Garvin, the Commandant, and threatens Owen's friendship with the Egyptian lawyer, Mahmoud el Zaki, he often has to work with.

The sub plot of the snake catchers is a lovely historical detail but also reveals much about Muslim treatment of women. Owen finds a solution in the end to all the problems but not perhaps what we readers would wish for the snake catcher's daughter.

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This tremendously enjoyable book brings alive the Cairo of the early twentieth century, when British 'advisors' assist with running the country.

The Mamur Zapt or head of the Secret Police, is a Welshman who is thus outside the ranks of the Cambridge old boys who run every other British aspect of the administration. Gareth Owen finds that someone is trying to smear the police with possible corruption. A man who is keen to watch an ancient ritual is missing, and he is eventually found in a cistern full of snakes. Who is responsible? All the threads tie in and the snake-catcher's daughter, an exception in many ways to the women of her society, because of assisting in her father's occupation, is called upon to display her skills more than once.

We meet rich and poor, traditional and modern, helpful and scheming people. Description is pared to a minimum in order to get on with the story in the scorching, dusty heat. I had not read any earlier books in this series but enjoyed this one thoroughly and I will be looking out for more.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best of the Mamur Zapt series; McPhee based on real-life Bimbashi McPherson (see http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bimbashi-McPh... )

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Packed with political intrigue and corruption in turn of the 20th century Egypt.

[Susanna Duffy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another graceful mystery with the indomitable Mamur Zapt

[ambyr · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the one hand, this is a quick, catchy read, featuring evocative description, complex characterization, sharp dialogue (the bit about what it means to retire will be rattling around my head for a while), and meticulous historical detail. On the other hand, it's a story about colonization from the colonizer's perspective, one that never really questions the ultimately necessity of colonization and often paints the colonized with broad, stereotyping strokes.

On the third hand, it's told tightly from the perspective of one of the colonizers, leaving plenty of room to read between the lines and interpret the pro-British sentiment as driven by his biases. Yes, the Egyptians are corrupt, but the novel doesn't shy away from admitting that so are the British; it merely justifies it more. No one here comes out looking particularly clean--except the eponymous snake catcher's daughter, who has the sad fate of being a plucky YA heroine in entirely the wrong sort of novel.

A nice palate cleanser from other things I've been reading. I don't feel a need to rush through this series, but I'll dip back into it from time to time.

[Tbfrank · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michael Pearce's tales of Mamur Zapt bring the essence of Cairo to life in the first decade of the 20th century. In this volume Gareth Owen (Mamur Zapt), the Khedive's head of the not-so-secret police uncovers a twisting plot to unseat three British officials, himself included. Pearce paints a picture of the people, culture, and politics at a time when the Nationalist movement was gaining momentum in a three-way struggle with the Khedive, nominal ruler of the country and vassal of the Ottoman Empire, and the British Administration. While not strong on characterization, Pearce populates his stories with quick sketches that bring even incidental characters to life. Written in simple language, peppered with a handful of Arabic and French words and phrases, the dialogue is brisk and often humorous. At the heart of all these novels lies the conflict between East and West, culture, ideals, politics, and power. Never written as political treatises, the novels provide a window into the past that help explain the on-going strife today.

[Kimberly Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my favorite Mamur Zapt mystery. Someone has thrown a cobra in the men's. However, when the Mamum Zapt goes to get the snake catcher, he returns with the Snake Catcher's Daughter..who happens to make quick work of the snake...thus causing an uproar amongst the men. For everyone "knows" that a woman's place is in the home and not working as a catcher of snakes, no matter the size of the threat!

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy this series.

[Liz V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Mamur Zapt is trying to find out who drugged the Deputy Police Chief and dumped him in a snake pit, while trying to keep the attack under wraps. Nothing, however, goes unnoticed in Cairo and the news is printed illegally, along with scurrilous disinformation on himself and the Police Chief.

4 stars for the historical information and mystery, though the solution to the latter was obvious long before being disclosed.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is becoming a favorite series with all the rich detail of life and politics in Egypt at that time. Our main character is resourceful and his collogues a wide-ranging set from scoundrels to rigidly moral. This book has several humorous elements, especially regarding snakes, but also in the private lives of Owen and his sergeant. I have hopes that the snake catcher's daughter appears in later books.

[Deirdre E Siegel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow… we talk / whisper about milking Cobra, circumcision’s abhorrence and occurrence for the fairer sex, while McPhee and Garvin come under scrutiny in scorching sunshine of our picturesque Cairo of old, a humorous helping of chortles, guffaws, laughter and titters, thank you Michael Pearce, much appreciated. :-)

[Keith Broz]

Good book.

[Donna Boultwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggled to follow the story at times, but quite amusing in places.

[Hermien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining and interesting.

[P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the first in this series and found it primitive ie a poorly developed plot, one dimensional characters etc. But, having inadvertently bought [how DOES one do this?] the 8th, and needing something simple after more strenuous reads, I picked it up from the pile of back-burners. It is definitely less strenuous, a little bit like reading a sit-com, full of one-liners, people appearing suddenly and leaving as such, and some of the shortest scenes one finds. So, a comedy, requiring no concentration or thought or even attention. I can do that. But for how long? Not long enough to finish it.

[Debra]

These mysteries are much. They take place in Cairo around 1910. The nationalist movements is in it's infancy, and the British have been "helping out" for 30 years. Some of the stories revolve around banking failures and government bailouts and fights between Russia and Georgia. Most were written in the 1990's. So, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

[Libbie Counselman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't enjoy the Mamur Zapt books as much as Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody series.

[Regine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Political.