Kingdom of Strangers by Zoë Ferraris

Review by: Meagan Dashcund

The short
The Tales of Nayir and Katya Book #3. If you haven’t caught up on Finding Nouf or City of Veils, start there.

The long
For all the True Crime-rs out there, this is your Mecca (if you will). After 19 women’s bodies turn up in the desert and the lead inspector’s mistress goes missing, Katya Hijazi is on the case(s)! As a forensic technician in a deeply entrenched, male-dominated field, Katya must balance her personal life and her career aspirations. She’s stuck with the grunt work in Jeddah’s Police Department crime lab, her boss asks her to bend some rules to help him figure out his own mystery, and to top it all off, there’s an awkward dinner between her husband to be and her father. Eep.

To read or not to read?
A serial killer in Jeddah? Check. A female perspective on daily Saudi life? Check, check. A deeper dive into the complexities of Saudi social politics? We want more Zoë Ferraris, please!