The book has been translated into Persian by Mohammad Hazbaizadeh.

“The Bookseller’s Murder” follows Magid Baghdadi, an experienced journalist, who arrives in Baquba, 60 kilometers north of Baghdad, to conduct a two-month investigation commissioned by a rich and influential anonymous person. 

He must write a book about the life and mysterious death of 70-year-old Mahmoud al-Marzouq, a bookseller and artist. 

Magid forms relationships with friends and acquaintances of the deceased and comes across a notebook containing some of his diaries. These record his life in the city since the first day of the U.S. occupation. 

He also discovers letters between al-Marzouq and Jeanette, a Frenchwoman who worked as a model for artists, when he was a refugee in Paris. From these and other sources, the personality of al-Marzouq comes to life and various chapters of his interesting and complex life are revealed. What will remain obscure is the reason for his death.

Saad Mohammed Raheem born in Diyala province, Eastern Iraq in 1957, has worked as a teacher and journalist, and his articles have been published in Iraqi and Arab newspapers and periodicals. 

He is the author of six collections of short stories, a number of political and literary studies and three novels: “Twilight of the Wader”, winner of the 2000 Iraqi Creativity Award for Fiction, “The Song of a Woman, Twilight of the Sea” and “The Bookseller’s Murder”. 

In 2005, he won the Iraqi Award for Best Investigative Journalism, and was also awarded the 2010 Creativity Prize for the Short Story, for his collection “Almond Blossom”.

Source:Tehran Times