When the body of a Russian agent is found down a monastery well, Yashim knows exactly who to blame: Fevzi Ahmet Pasha, commander of the Ottoman fleet. Ruthless, cruel, and - in Yashim's eyes - ineffective, Fevzi Ahmet is the only man who makes him afraid. And now Yashim must confront a secret whose roots lie deep in the tortured atmosphere of the sultan's harem, where normal rules are suspended, and women can simply disappear. Once again, Yashim and his friends encounter treachery and politics, played out against the backdrop of 1840s Istanbul.