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Summary

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Nobel Prize-winning Pamuk sets this murder mystery in Istanbul during the height of the Ottoman Empire. A sultan commissions a group of artists to create an illustrated book based on his life. When the body of the lead artist appears at the bottom of a well, the clues to his demise must be found within the paintings themselves. Melded into the “whodunit” nature of this novel is an examination of 16th-century Turkish mores and customs, as well as a study of the role figurative art plays in the Islamic religion.