The Serenity Murders
A PENGUIN MYSTERY
The Serenity Murders
MEHMET MURAT SOMER
was born in Ankara in 1959. His
Turkish Delight
crime series hit number one on Turkey’s bestseller lists, where it remained for months, and has since been published in fourteen countries (UK, United States, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Greece, Germany, Sweden, Bulgaria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Egypt, and Turkey). He is a screenwriter for both film and television, and a classical music critic for various newspapers and magazines. He lives in Istanbul, Rio de Janeiro, and occasionally in other corners of the world, as long as there is enough sunlight.
The
Serenity
Murders
• M E H M E T M U R A T S O M E R •
PENGUIN BOOKS
PENGUIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA • Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) • Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England • Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) • Penguin Group (Australia), 707 Collins Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3008, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) • Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India • Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) • Penguin Books (South Africa), Rosebank Office Park, 181 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parktown North 2193, South Africa • Penguin China, B7 Jiaming Center, 27 East Third Ring Road
North, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100020, China
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published in Penguin Books 2012
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Copyright © Mehmet Murat Somer, 2004
Translation copyright © Amy Marie Spangler, 2012
All rights reserved
Originally published in Turkish under the title
Huzur Cimayetleri.
Publisher’s Note
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product
of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons,
living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA
Somer, Mehmet Murat, 1959–
[Huzur cimayetleri. English]
The serenity murders / Mehmet Murat Somer.
p. cm.
ISBN: 978-1-101-60307-9
1. Transvestites—Turkey—Fiction. 2. Murder—Investigation—Turkey—Fiction.
3. Istanbul (Turkey)—Fiction. I. Title.
PL248.S557H8913 2013
894’.3534—dc23
Printed in the United States of America
Set in Dante MT
Designed by Elke Sigal
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the authors’ rights is appreciated
| ALWAYS LEARNING | PEARSON |
Cast of Characters
| Burçak Veral | The Turkish Delight protagonist |
| Sofya | Ex-stage star, retired but still impressive, has dark relations |
| Ponpon/Zekeriya | Transvestite drag star, best friend |
| Figen | Secretary in the office |
| Cüneyt | Bodyguard at the club |
| Hasan | Maitre’d of the club |
| Osman | DJ at the club |
| Şükrü | Barman at the club, loves twinks |
| Yavuz | Young man from suburbs, customer at the club, usually dancing topless |
| İpekten | Transvestite friend, very chic, elegant, out of Harper’s Bazaar |
| Selçuk Tayanç | Childhood friend, now a department director for the police |
| Hüseyin Talip Kozalak | Taxi driver at the neighborhood, has a crush on Burçak |
| Satı | Cleaning lady, maid |
| Refık Altın | Gay poet, lyricist |
| Ayla Tayanç | Childhood friend, once a nemesis, now wife of Selçuk |
| Belinda D. | Very famous and powerful DJ, music critic, guru of Turkish pop |
| Jihad2000/Kemal Barutçu | Computer hacker, doomed to wheelchair, with bizarre sexual drives |
| Cem Yegğenogğlu | Hypnotherapist |
| Ricardo | Drag star from Brazil |
| Hümeyra | Neighborhood woman who works at the bank |
| İsmail Kozalak | Hüseyin’s father, ironmonger |
| Kevser Kozalak | Hüseyin’s mother |
| Taık | Another taxi driver from the neighborhood, buddy of Hüseyin |
| Sermet Kiliç | Aikido and Tai chi master |
| Hilmi Kulogğlu | Square-faced commissar of the Homicide Department |
| Aykut Batur | Ex-chorister at the opera, now going onto pop |
| Alberto Maggıore | New York mortician, makeup master |
| Andelıp Turhan | Tarot master, always in queer dresses |
| Bahadır | Young and fresh lover of Gül |
| Bedirhan ender | Health food and diet master |
| Buket | TV programmer |
| Cavit Ate‚ | Reiki master |
| Cemil Kazancı | Mafia head |
| Gazanfer | Grocery wholesaler, usually silent customer at the club |
| Gül Tamay | Reiki master |
| Hakan Akincı | Tantra master |
| Haydar Hocaev | Bioenergy master from Azerbaijan |
| Koral Kohen | Gossip columnist |
| Mehmet Murat Somer | Bestselling author |
| Morlu Kadın | The angelic woman |
| Nılgün Kutlu | Yoga and meditation master |
| Nımet Hanoğlu | Faruk’s wealthy widow |
| Süheyl Arkın | TV programmer |
| Vildan Karaca | Crystal and feng shui master, always in hurry |
| Yılmaz Karataş | Small and dark Mafia bodyguard |
| Wimpy Ferdı | Weird neighbor |
| Alı | Money-counter, freelance computing employer |
| Afet | Red-haired Reiki expert |
| Melek | Young girl from the Kozalaks’ neighborhood |
| Genteel Gönül | Tranvestite acquintance, lower class than most but tries hard to sound classy |
| Şırın Güney | Yoga and meditation specialist, girlfriend of Cavit Ateş |
The Girls at the Club | |
| Beyza (Dumptruck Beyza) | Overweight transvestite at the club |
| Demet Kıllı (Hairy Demet) | Transvestite at the club, no waxing, kind of kinky |
| Elvan | Ignorant transvestite at the club |
| Karakaş Lulu | Hot-tempered transvestite at the club |
| Mehtap | Tall and red-wigged transvestite at the club |
| Müjde | Chubby transvestite at the club |
| Pamir / Yahya | Aggressive transvestite at the club |
| Sakallı Barbi | |
| (Bearded Barbie) | Transvestite at the club |