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In the volatile political landscape of Algiers during the Napoleonic era, Chief Commissioner Muhammad Amalfi and his brilliant, independent wife, Lalla Hurriya, find themselves at the center of a deadly conspiracy. While Muhammad is trapped inside the Dey’s palace mosque during a violent rebellion, Hurriya fortifies her revolutionary women's-only hammam against marauding rebel janissaries. Their parallel struggles are linked by a gruesome mystery: the discovery of the headless corpse of Rahhal Elrasheed, a corrupt and universally loathed ransom broker. As Muhammad navigates the lethal political rivalries within the barricaded mosque, Hurriya uses her network of diplomatic guests and family secrets to piece together the victim's predatory history. Together, even while separated by palace walls and city gates, they must unravel a web of slave traders, historical grievances, and treacherous plots involving the Corsair Captains' Guild to save each other and the city from total collapse. Comparable works include The Widows of Malabar Hill, The Spoils of Egypt, The Janissary Tree, Harem