{"id":81156,"date":"2015-01-01T12:00:07","date_gmt":"2015-01-01T17:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=81156"},"modified":"2014-12-25T15:00:23","modified_gmt":"2014-12-25T20:00:23","slug":"the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/01\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Case of the Arabic Noirs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>We\u2019re out until January 5, but we\u2019re re-posting some of our favorite pieces from 2014 while we\u2019re away. We hope you enjoy\u2014and have a happy New Year!<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>Cairo: the metal detector beeps. The security man wears a crisp white uniform. He nods and leans back in his chair. The lobby\u2019s red oriental carpet, so worn it\u2019s barely red, leads upstairs to the hotel tavern. Enter the glass doors, where a cat in a smart bow tie and vest reaches for a lonely bottle behind the bar. He takes his time; he\u2019s been polishing glasses at the Windsor Hotel for thirty-eight years. Out the window, a motorcycle speeds through the dark alley. In 1893, this joint was ritzy\u2014home to the royal baths, steps from the original Cairo Opera House. Tonight it\u2019s dingy enough that Philip Marlowe might come here to tip a few back after clobbering some hoods. A fine joint in which to pore over pulp from the secondhand book market down the street.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s tempting to ponder the relevance of crime novels in contemporary Egypt. The 2011 revolution began on National Police Day as a revolt against the fuzz. When President Hosni Mubarak breezed off eighteen days later, the police dusted, too, leaving behind a Wild West. Gun sales skyrocketed, matched by holdups and carjackings. In the following two years, thugs ran Cairo\u2019s streets. Ever since General Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi ousted former President Mohammed Morsi last summer, the coppers have been back in full force. White uniformed police operate checkpoints littered throughout the capital like discarded Coke cans. Cabbies are so scared that they\u2019ve started wearing seat belts. And now, as authorities attempt to restore law and order, the crime genre is making a comeback. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/20\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs\/\">Read More &gt;&gt;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019re out until January 5, but we\u2019re re-posting some of our favorite pieces from 2014 while we\u2019re away. We hope you enjoy\u2014and have a happy New Year! Cairo: the metal detector beeps. The security man wears a crisp white uniform. He nods and leans back in his chair. The lobby\u2019s red oriental carpet, so worn [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":739,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16464],"tags":[15040,1812,9899,15039,1773,4150,15035,15036,1828,15034,15037,15038],"class_list":["post-81156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-of-2014","tag-book-markets","tag-cairo","tag-covers","tag-diary-of-a-country-prosecutor","tag-egypt","tag-elliott-colla","tag-hosni-mubarak","tag-mohammed-morsi","tag-noir","tag-pulp-novels","tag-the-windsor-hotel","tag-translations"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Case of the Arabic Noirs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jonathan Guyer on the resurgence of crime novels in contemporary Egypt.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/01\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Case of the Arabic Noirs by Jonathan Guyer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"January 1, 2015 \u2013 We\u2019re out until January 5, but we\u2019re re-posting some of our favorite pieces from 2014 while we\u2019re away. We hope you enjoy\u2014and have a happy New Year!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/01\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-01-01T17:00:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jonathan Guyer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jonathan Guyer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/01\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs-2\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/01\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs-2\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jonathan Guyer\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f005e48232f090e50b9723edaf94b502\"},\"headline\":\"The Case of the Arabic Noirs\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-01-01T17:00:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/01\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs-2\/\"},\"wordCount\":307,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"book markets\",\"Cairo\",\"covers\",\"Diary of a Country Prosecutor\",\"Egypt\",\"Elliott Colla\",\"Hosni Mubarak\",\"Mohammed Morsi\",\"noir\",\"pulp novels\",\"the Windsor Hotel\",\"translations\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Best of 2014\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/01\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/01\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs-2\/\",\"name\":\"The Case of the Arabic Noirs\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-01-01T17:00:07+00:00\",\"description\":\"Jonathan Guyer on the resurgence of crime novels in contemporary Egypt.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/01\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/01\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/01\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Case of the Arabic Noirs\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f005e48232f090e50b9723edaf94b502\",\"name\":\"Jonathan Guyer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/52f867e4f150cff9042062a937e3a8a8b44d5262b3670b130830fa79b2d054ad?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/52f867e4f150cff9042062a937e3a8a8b44d5262b3670b130830fa79b2d054ad?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jonathan Guyer\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/jguyer\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Case of the Arabic Noirs","description":"Jonathan Guyer on the resurgence of crime novels in contemporary Egypt.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/01\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Case of the Arabic Noirs by Jonathan Guyer","og_description":"January 1, 2015 \u2013 We\u2019re out until January 5, but we\u2019re re-posting some of our favorite pieces from 2014 while we\u2019re away. We hope you enjoy\u2014and have a happy New Year!","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/01\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs-2\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2015-01-01T17:00:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Jonathan Guyer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jonathan Guyer","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/01\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/01\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs-2\/"},"author":{"name":"Jonathan Guyer","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f005e48232f090e50b9723edaf94b502"},"headline":"The Case of the Arabic Noirs","datePublished":"2015-01-01T17:00:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/01\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs-2\/"},"wordCount":307,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["book markets","Cairo","covers","Diary of a Country Prosecutor","Egypt","Elliott Colla","Hosni Mubarak","Mohammed Morsi","noir","pulp novels","the Windsor Hotel","translations"],"articleSection":["Best of 2014"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/01\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs-2\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/01\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs-2\/","name":"The Case of the Arabic Noirs","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-01-01T17:00:07+00:00","description":"Jonathan Guyer on the resurgence of crime novels in contemporary Egypt.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/01\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/01\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/01\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Case of the Arabic Noirs"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f005e48232f090e50b9723edaf94b502","name":"Jonathan Guyer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/52f867e4f150cff9042062a937e3a8a8b44d5262b3670b130830fa79b2d054ad?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/52f867e4f150cff9042062a937e3a8a8b44d5262b3670b130830fa79b2d054ad?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jonathan Guyer"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/jguyer\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/739"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81156"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81157,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81156\/revisions\/81157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}