- Yashim is no ordinary detective. Yashim is a eunuch. A concubine is strangled in the Sultans palace harem, and a young cadet is found butchered in the streets of Istanbul.Delving deep into the citys crooked alleyways, and deeper still into its tumultuous past, Yashim discovers that some people will go to any lengths to preserve the traditions of the Ottoman Empire. Brilliantly evoking Istanbul in the 1830s, "The Janissary Tree" is a bloody, witty and fast-paced literary thriller with a spectacular cast.