The Baklava Club

Yashim the Eunuch Series, Book 5

By: Jason Goodwin

Narrated by: Gemma Dawson

Three naïve Italian liberals, exiled in Istanbul, have bungled their instructions to kill a Polish prince - instead, they've kidnapped him and absconded to an unused farmhouse. Little do they realize that their revolutionary cell has been penetrated by their enemies, who are passing along false orders under the code name La Piuma, the Feather.

It falls to Yashim to unravel all this - he's convinced that the prince is alive and that the Italians have hidden him somewhere. But there are just a few problems: He has no idea who La Piuma is, and he's in no mood to put up a fight - he's fallen in love! As he draws closer to the farmhouse and to the true identity of La Piuma, what Yashim discovers leaves him shocked and in the most dangerous situation of his career.

Goodwin has an eye for detail like no other, and in The Baklava Club he conjures Istanbul in all its glorious exoticism. This is a breathtaking, extraordinary conclusion to one of the most beloved series in mystery fiction, and its ending will leave you truly astonished.

©2014 Jason Goodwin (P)2018 Tantor

A very poor choice for narrator

I have loved most everything about this series and I was very much looking forward the the next “chapter.” BUT I am returning the book unfinished. The rushed monotone of the narrator is not a good match for this rich story.

Not Following Through

I have been waiting for the audio version of this book for over a year, and now when I finally get it, it's a let down. How do you have the same narrator for four books, then for the fifth, you change them. The story is still good don't get me wrong, I was just looking forward to Steven Hoye or at least another man. Having a female narrator just changes Yashim for me. Thank you "Tantor Media" for a let down. I would not recommend this book if having a different narrator than all previous books bothers you. Stick to the hard-copy.

Seems like it wasn't audio edited?

The story is good. The narrator is fine, although it's weird that they changed narrators most of the way through a series.

More significantly, in the first half of the 'book' the narrator occasionally flubs a line, and then immediately repeats it. I'd guess that an audio editor was supposed to go in and remove those, but missed them.

My cup of sweet tea

I have enjoyed Jason Goodwin’s books. I had read this one previously and decided to listen to it again. The narrator did a fine job, the plots moved well. I enjoy the characters. If you like mysteries and historical novels but can’t stomach another one on British Regency, try this.

great, but...

as always loved the story & Gemma does a great job, but it kills the continuity in a audio series to change the narrator @ the end. the characters seem different. I'd buy it again w Stephen Hoye just for the continuity.

Change to a poor narrator in last Yashim book

Sad about the loss of the great narrator from the first four Yashim books.
There is no comparison!

Fun, but seemed truncated.

Well written, but seemed rushed. And can't the narrators ever be taught Turkish pronunciations? Please?

Disappointed

Disappointed to find this is to be the last book of Yashim the Eunuch and had a downer ending. Yashim deserves better as do the readers. Gemma Dawson is a fine reader but not for Yashim. Stephen Hoye has become Yashim so it was doubly disappointing. Perhaps Jason Goodwin will reconsider writing Yashim and return Stephen Hoye to his place in an audio version.

Narration fail- switching to paper form.

So disappointing, the narration is one giant run-on sentence, you can’t tell one character from another, and the pronunciation is so far removed from the original narrator that I have no idea what she’s talking about. Yes, “she”- up to now the series had a fantastic male voice, and now for some reason it is a female. The characters are lost. I miss Yashim.

Narrator not very good: low production value

They changed the narrator on this book and it completely changes the whole atmosphere of the story. Also, there are too many editing glitches(repetitions of the same sentence), especially in the beginning. Narrator also makes no effort to pronounce certain foreign words correctly. A bit disappointed.