'He took the spy thriller out of the gentility of the drawing room and into the back streets of Istanbul, where it all really happened' Frederick ForsythSmall-time hustler Arthur Abdel Simpson ekes out a living in Athens by robbing gullible tourists.But when an attempted theft backfires, he finds himself out-smarted and blackmailed into driving a highly suspicious car across the border to Istanbul.Then the Turkish secret police get involved, and Simpson becomes embroiled in something far deeper, and more dangerous, than he could imagine.Featuring a heart-stopping jewel heist, this compulsive, morally complex thriller became the basis for the classic film Topkapi.