Reading: A Dead Djinn in Cairo

P. Djèlí Clark's novelette A Dead Djinn in Cairo is a supernatural murder mystery set in a steampunky alternate 1912, forty years after the Sudanese mystic and inventor al-Jahiz opened a door to the supernatural realm, allowing the djinn and other magical beings to pass through to the human world where their skills in building and magical powers have raised Egypt up to become one of the great powers of the early twentieth century, rather than remaining as a colonised nation. When Special Investigator Fatma el-Sha'arawi of the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities is called in to investigate the death of a djinn found naked and magically exsanguinated, she finds herself caught up in a case involving angels, ghouls and a plot that could wipe out all human existence.

I enjoyed this, although the writing felt a little clunky at times and was also occasionally a bit infodumpy; I had thought that it was a novella, rather than a novelette, and I think it would have benefited from a bit more space to develop the setting, and also to allow the plot to unfold more gradually as it all seemed to fall into place a bit too easily. However, I enjoyed reading a steampunk story set somewhere other than Western Europe or America, and I really liked Fatma, a female investigator in a male-dominated world who dresses in Western-style men's clothing "to look exotic" and has a very strong (if never quite explicit) f/f vibe with another character. I see that Clark has a debut novel coming out, also featuring Fatma, and I would certainly give that a try.