Murder in the Tower of Happiness

By M. M. Tawfik

Inside the Tower of Happiness, Cairo’s super-rich live out their sordid lives and lavish lifestyles. The naked, strangled body of Ahlam, a beautiful young actress, is discovered in one of the lifts, and as the police investigation gets under way we meet the tower’s strange cast of characters. Living amongst them is Antar, a boy who roams the tower, enters apartments and overhears conversations. Unsettled by his presence, the residents’ decadent lives begin to unravel. 

'The title Murder in the Tower of Happiness and even a summary of the novel may make it sound like this is a standard sort of mystery -- and there is indeed a murder at its heart -- but it is fairly far from most conventional crime fiction ... Aside from personal concerns, this is also a political novel, with considerable commentary and criticism of Egypt and current conditions ... much of it is a vivid depiction of slices of Egyptian life unlike that found elsewhere.'

The Complete Review

M. M. Tawfik was born in Cairo in 1956. He is a member of International PEN, conducts an online writers’ workshop and is the literary editor of arabworldbooks.com. Tawfik is the author of a volume of short stories, The Day the Moon Fell.