El paradero de un retrato de Mehmet II, gran héroe del Imperio otomano, pintado por el artista renacentista Bellini ha sido un misterio durante siglos. En el Estambul de 1840 circula el rumor de que el cuadro ha aparecido en Venecia, y el sultán quiere poseerlo a toda costa. Yashim, el célebre detective eunuco, es el encargado de recuperarlo, y para ello cuenta con la inestimable ayuda de Stanislaw Palieski, el decadente embajador de Polonia.

(Listened to this on audio, so some of my gripes pertain to the reader) The cover says "Investigator Yashim goes to Venice." Well, he does eventually, but for nearly half of the book he isn't in it much at all. His friend, Palewski, former Polish Ambassador to the Ottoman Court, goes to Venice in Yashim's place on a mission for the new young sultan, searching for a painting which may or may not exist. I couldn't seem to get caught up in this story. This often happens to me in Venice--I don't think I'd like it there, and am not susceptible to its intrigue. Much of the time I found myself zoning out, but it didn't seem I ever missed much of consequence. Lengthy descriptions of fencing in the sport's unfamiliar lingo left me bewildered. The segments involving the Venetian police didn't have much bearing on the story, as far as I could tell. I think there was too much book for the amount of story here. And the narration sometimes distracted me. I understand the need to distinguish character's voices on audio, but I think there's something fundamentally wrong with using stereotypical accents to accomplish that. All of the narrator's Italian accents struck me as cheesy; his women always sounded whiny, even when they were threatening someone at sword-point; and then there was that beggar who sounded like Stanley Holloway's Alfred P. Doolittle. Hoye also tended to be melodramatic with dialog, especially with the Venetian characters. He did better when the story line took us back to Istanbul, as did I. I don't think it was entirely the fault of the narrator that this book did not captivate me as the first two Yashim adventures did. I took a print copy out of the library so I could look back to see if I had missed things while listening, and I read the last third from the page. I didn't care for the setting; parts of the story were overdone, tedious, or even pointless; there was too much Palewski and not enough Yashim. The foodie bits were wonderful, though. ( )

[Snake Stone] is the second Yashim the Eunuch mystery by [[Jason Goodwin]]. Like the first it is full of detail about life in early modern Istanbul. 1840's. This one also has detail about the Greek Revolution of the 1820's and the involvement in that war by Lord Byron and other romantics. It is also full of engineering and archeological detail about the city that I found fascinating. This one has incredible detail about the water system. Today there are tours available about the Roman cisterns and aqueducts.

I don't really care for the narrators voice but I like these mysteries. They are set in an exotic place and involves a way of life that is gone. They are so much more than mysteries. The series is all about culture and social customs as well as full of unique history that brings a far distant place and its past alive. There will be more of them in my car in the future. ( )

I enjoyed this book much more than the first book. I don't know if it was because of the location of this one (Venice, Italy) or the content. This book involved Yashim's friend Palewski more than anyone and I liked his "bumbling" personality. Yashim did step in to save the day and tie up loose ends, but that was okay. Overall, it was a decent storyline and I enjoyed the read. ( )

Dit is het derde boek over Yashim Togalu.

De nieuwe Sultan wil het portret hebben van Mehmet II de Veroveraar, gemaakt door de Italiaan Gentile Bellini in 1480.
Yashim stuurt zijn vriend Palewski, de Poolse ambassadeur in Istanboel, vooruit naar Venetië, waar het schilderij zich zou bevinden. Op de dag van zijn aankomst slaat een moordenaar toe. Kunst kopen in Venetië lijkt uiterst gevaarlijk te zijn.... ( )