Book 64: "The Mamur Zapt and the Night of the Dog" by Michael Pearce

If there were leaflets there was organisation. And if there was organisation there was money. And if there was organisation and money, then there was design and planning. The incidents were not spontaneous. They were part of a pattern. He had hoped that the affair of the dog and the death of the Zikr were isolated instances, that with the death of those responsible the matter could end there.
It looked as if it was only the beginning.

This book is set in the Edwardian era, and its hero, Captain Owen, is the Mamur Zapt, the head of the Cairo secret police. Nominally he works for the Egyptian ruler, the Khedive, but in reality he reports to the British authorities who are actually running Egypt. The inhabitants of Cairo are a mixture of nationalities and religions, and the Mamur Zapt is tasked with keeping relations between the different communities from bubbling over. When a dead dog is dumped in a tomb in the Coptic cemetary, it is up to the Mamur Zapt to keep a lid on the conflict between the Moslems and Copts, since it could disrupt some delicate political negotiations that are under way.
I've read a couple of the other Mamur Zapt books before, and the Edwardian setting and political angle to the Mamur Zapt's work add interest to these enjoyable police procedurals.

Nottingham Round the World Reading Challenge - OTTOMAN EMPIRE / EGYPT / CAIRO

Book 65: "Looking for Jake and Other Stories" by China Mieville

You made us hurt each other, and ourselves. You made us blood each other, when you fought in front of your looking glasses. You ignored them, and us, but we could not resist. When you conducted your knifings, your shootings dead. When you slit your own throats and watched the blood leak out of you, and out of us. We stabbed each other, for your vainglorious whims, and accompanied you in suicide. And where your mortuaries were glazed, you trapped us there, and made us rot with you. From "The
Tain".

This book contains fantasy and horror short stories, plus the novella "The Tain". My least favourites of the stories were "Different Skies" which was quite a scary and unpleasant tale, and "Familiar", which I shouldn't really have read while eating my lunch. My favourite was "'Tis the Season", which takes place at a time when Christmas has been privatised, so unless you buy a very expensive licence, you aren't allowed to sing carols, put your presents under a Christmas Tree, or even wish anybody a Marry Christmas! I also very much enjoyed "The Tain", which is based on an idea from a story by Borges.