Silently, we followed our guide along the solemn rows of sarcophagi covered in green cloth, some of them quite small. ‘I can see you are a little confused,’ said our guide. ‘If you think this looks more like a cemetery than a tomb, you are right. It is. As you can see, Selim is not alone. There are many others buried in here with him. That may be curious enough, but who they are, and how and why many of them died, is far more intriguing and will shock you.’ Our guide paused, no doubt to let the tension grow.
‘To begin with,’ he continued, ‘we have five of Selim’s sons buried next to him over there. They were all murdered on the night he died in December 1574. Why? To ensure that his eldest son, Murad III, would succeed him peacefully and without being challenged.’
‘By silencing possible rivals?’ I asked.
‘Precisely.’
‘And who are the others?’
‘Nineteen of them are sons of Murad III, who were murdered on the night he died in January 1595. They were all strangled by deaf-mutes with a silk chord.
‘Are you suggesting that by murdering all of his half-brothers, the eldest son secured his succession and became the next sultan?’
‘Yes.’
During the stunned silence that followed, I looked along the rows of solemn graves, each a sad reminder of a life cut short by naked ambition, lust for power, and fear. Momentarily overcome by the sadness of the moment, my mind began to wander. What if one of them had somehow been spared? I asked myself. What if one of them had managed to escape, and survived? What if …?
For some reason, I couldn’t get these haunting questions out of my mind. They stayed with me and became the inspiration for this book.
Gabriel Farago
Leura, Blue Mountains, Australia
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Gabriel Farago
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About the Author
Gabriel Farago is the international, bestselling award-winning Australian author of the Jack Rogan mysteries and thrillers series for the thinking reader.
As a lawyer with a passion for history and archaeology, Gabriel Farago had to wait for many years before being able to pursue another passion – writing – in earnest. However, his love of books and storytelling started long before that.
‘I remember as a young boy reading biographies and history books with a torch under the bed covers,’ he recalls, ‘and then writing stories about archaeologists and explorers the next day, instead of doing homework. While I regularly got into trouble for this, I believe we can only do well in our endeavours if we are passionate about the things we love; for me, writing has become a passion.’
Born in Budapest, Gabriel grew up in post-War Europe and, after fleeing Hungary with his parents during the Revolution in 1956, went to school in Austria before arriving in Australia as a teenager. This allowed him to become multi-lingual and feel ‘at home’ in different countries and diverse cultures.
Shaped by a long legal career and experiences spanning several decades and continents, his is a mature voice that speaks in many tongues. Gabriel holds degrees in literature and law, speaks several languages and takes research and authenticity very seriously. Inquisitive by nature, he studied Egyptology and learned to read the hieroglyphs. He travels extensively and visits all of the locations mentioned in his books.
‘I try to weave fact and fiction into a seamless storyline,’ he explains. ‘By blurring the boundaries between the two, the reader is never quite sure where one ends, and the other begins. This is of course quite deliberate as it creates the illusion of authenticity and reality in a work that is pure fiction. A successful work of fiction is a balancing act: reality must rub shoulders with imagination in a way that is both entertaining and plausible.’
Gabriel lives just outside Sydney, Australia, in the Blue Mountains, surrounded by a World Heritage National Park. ‘The beauty and solitude of this unique environment,’ he points out, ‘give me the inspiration and energy to weave my thoughts and ideas into stories which, I sincerely hope, will in turn entertain and inspire my readers.’
Gabriel Farago
Author's Note
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Gabriel Farago
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The Hidden Genes of Professor K: A Medical Mystery Thriller (Jack Rogan Mysteries Book 3) Page 57