Review: Mehmet Murat Somer’s Turkish Delight Mysteries
This review was originally published on my personal blog in May 2021
Mehmet Murat Somer’s Turkish Delight Mysteries (Hop-Ciki-Yaya in Turkish) is a crime fiction series set in Istanbul featuring a transvestite detective– though not politically correct, “transvestite” is the word used in the books themselves. For most of the series, the narrator is unnamed, but in one of the latest sequels, it is revealed that her name is Burcak Veral. For the sake of consistency, in this review I will refer to the narrator as Burcak throughout.
The series consists of seven books, four of which have been translated into English by Kenneth Dakan. These are: The Prophet Murders, The Kiss Murder, The Gigolo Murder, and The Serenity Murders. Each book is self-contained and can be read in any order. Each is narrated by Burcak herself.
According to Somer, this is the first series to feature a transvestite detective. In an interview with Euro Crime, he stated that he created the character because:
“ the media presentation of transvestites is usually negative. They are presented as either slapstick fun material or potential criminals by the media, in bad films and books…. I don’t agree with this attitude at all. So I wanted to create a likeable, intelligent, witty, refined, well-educated hero/heroine with ‘positive skills’. Not the typical, stereotypical drag queen. Therefore I furnished him/her with contrasting and considerable talents… plus lots of knowledge and warm wit. Hence I created, I believe, the first transvestite detective.”
We first meet Burcak in The Prophet Murders. As the novel opens, she is reading the newspaper while drinking her afternoon coffee. One of the headlines refers to a transvestite who has died in a fire in an abandoned building. It later transpires that there has been a series of suspicious deaths of transvestites, all of whom have original male names that refer to Islamic prophets (Ibrahim, Yusuf, Musa etc). Burcak decides to investigate these deaths. Using her computer skills (she is a male computer consultant by day and a female transvestite club owner at night) and with the help of a fellow hacker named “Jihad 2000” or Kemal Barutcu, she is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. I will not give away any spoilers here but suffice it to say that the culprit is linked to conservative Islamists, allowing Somer to explore serious issues such as religious fundamentalism in Turkey.
Many characters recur from one novel to the other. These include Burcuk’s drag queen friend Ponpon, Huseyin, a neighborhood taxi driver who has a crush on Burcuk, Burcuk’s boss Ali, Jihad2000 and Selcuk, a department director with the police. Many of the “girls” and other club employees also recur in each volume.
Though the series deals with some serious subjects, the overall tone is lighthearted and at times campy. Burcuk idolizes Audrey Hepburn and we learn a lot about how she is dressed. We also learn a lot about Burcuk’s taste in men and about the queer dating culture in Istanbul. Finally, we get a sense of the geography of this historical and beautiful city.
I would highly recommend the series to fans of mysteries who are looking for a narrative set in a place and among a community that most of us are not too familiar with. Since we are trapped at home during this never-ending pandemic, reading these books is a nice way to vicariously experience Istanbul. Here’s to more Hop-Ciki-Yayas being translated into English!