Mehmet Murat Somer

Something's gone seriously wrong in Istanbul - a killer is on the loose, and transvestites are being murdered, the modus operandi becoming increasingly bizarre with each death. Our protagonist - fellow transvestite, nightclub owner and glamour puss extraordinaire downs her lipstick and ups the ante in the search for the religious nut. Not an easy task with the pressures of everyday life - investigations have to be slotted in between leg and chest waxes and rotating lovers.

"Being Istanbul's foremost transvestite detective, nightclub owner and computer expert is pretty time-consuming. So when our girl receives a visit from her hysterical friend Buse asking for help, she is initially reluctant to commit. Buse has, for several years, kept in flagrante photos and letters from a former relationship with a powerful man. So when her apartment is ransacked and Buse is later found dead, our girl needs to polish her Thai kick-boxing skills, slip into her slinkiest Audrey Hepburn number and use her formidable powers of charm and flirtation to trace the killer."--Back cover.

Devastated by the end of her relationship, our heroine swaps her catsuit for pyjamas and hides away from the world. But her friends from the nightclub refuse to let her waste away in self-pity and drag her out to make up the numbers for a party. Only full make-up will suffice, and there's serious grooming to be done before our girl's up to the challenge - her state of misery has left her so thin that even her favourite Audrey Hepburn number doesn't cling the way it should. At the soiree, she becomes entranced with a powerful married man, but it's unlikely their paths will cross again. Until a body is found in the street, stabbed to death - the victim, a gigolo, has connections to the object of her affection. And it seems that the gigolo lifestyle can leave one, ahem, exposed to hidden dangers. Our girl valiantly agrees to take on the case - any meetings with her beloved are an incidental added bonus.