"The Tree of Life"

"Camels! The ships of the desert, they were called, and and Mahboob Chaudri could understand why: he felt himself about to become seasick at any moment. Dear Allah, he prayed fervently, if the worst should happen, allow me at least to avoid soiling my uniform and disgracing myself!

"The third in Josh Pachter's appealing new series about Mahboob Ahmed Chaudri, officer on the Bahraini police force, a sensitive man who takes his responsibilities very seriously indeed..."

Egyptian scientist Emad Rezk is named after my Egyptian (now ex) brother-in-law Mohammed Rezk. All of the camels in Bahrain are in fact (or at least were at the time the story was written) the property of the emir, and photographs of JFK are in fact (or were) often found in Bahraini homes.

Some readers questioned whether or not Mahboob does the right thing at the end of the tale. I think he does.

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