My Name is Red - Orhan Pamuk

On a snowy night in old Istanbul, Elegant Effendi, a gilder noted for his work in decorating manuscripts with gold leaf, is lured to a deserted backstreet. Here his skull is smashed with a rock and his body dumped down a disused well. * 'Let's consider a piece by Bihzad, the master of masters, patron saint of all miniaturists. I happened across this masterpiece, which also nicely pertains to my situation because it's a depiction of murder, among the pages of a flawless ninety-year-old book of the Herat school.' We know this is the murderer talking - though not his identity - because the chapter heading has told us so. If we had our wits ...