‘It isn’t enticing enough if it isn’t forbidden.’ Humanity has sworn by this dictum since eons. Aren’t we here as a testimony to the first sin ever committed by Man? How can Sin be sacred? How can anything related to life remotely be connected to sanctity and yet we swear by Sanctity as well. For years, the conflict is manifest and for years, unresolved. Somewhere between the promise of resurrection and eternal damnation, we exist as a race tugged towards both good and bad by a thin thread of belief. Satan in one minute and angel in another, we defy all logic when it comes to tasting the forbidden fruit. What is so tantalizing about it is the same thing that makes it unforgiving, its soul! And in the end it hurts, it leads to bloodshed, it kills and it destroys. It leaves us vulnerable to damage and then the perdition never ends. ‘The Mahzur,’ reminds you of a simple fact, If it is forbidden, It will Bleed.. The Al Nafud is not just another desert. It is an amalgamation of poetry and music in the right proportions but it has a heart of stone under that soft burnished gold skin. The sand dunes sing to your call as if a dozen tubas are blown in unison but it isn’t a song for the faint of heart. It is unforgiving. Sarah, the lovely daughter of the Al Janubis is engaged to be married to another man but this doesn’t deter Ahmed from falling for a woman whose clan he has abhorred all his life. And when kismet trudges them towards an unlikely path through its bosom, does the Nafud forgive them for this mistake or does it unleash a fury unheard of in Janub as Sehra, their native land? I bring to you a love story from the wildest and the most beautiful desert of the Middle East. It is a story of love and loss for where there is great love, the loss, invariably is greater.

Barbara Nadel's gripping Ikmen mysteries are the inspiration behind The Turkish Detective, BBC Two's sensational eight-part TV crime drama series available to watch on BBC iPlayer. Dark magic is unleashed on the streets of Istanbul . . . When a newborn baby is found drowned in the shallow waters of the Golden Horn, all-out warfare threatens to erupt between rival criminal gangs. Inspector Kerim Gürsel is assigned to the case and he must tread carefully when DNA tests reveal that the baby's father is Görkan Paşahan, Istanbul's most feared Mafia boss. But the identity of the infant's mother is yet to be discovered . . . Meanwhile, Çetin İkmen and Mehmet Süleyman attend the winter festival known as Bocuk Gecesi, held on the darkest night of the year, and witness a magic trick whereby a young man, Emir Kaya, disappears. While İkmen investigates how the illusion took place, Süleyman conducts a tortuous hunt for Emir Kaya that exposes a harrowing tale of depravation, betrayal and corruption where the bloodline of a child is worth killing for and everything has its price . . . Praise for Barbara Nadel's novels: 'Complex and beguiling: a Turkish delight' Mick Herron 'İkmen is one of modern crime fiction's true heroes, complex yet likeable, and the city he inhabits - Istanbul - is just as fascinating' The Times 'Barbara Nadel's distinctive Istanbul-set Inspector İkmen thrillers combine brightly coloured scene setting with deliciously tortuous plots' Guardian