A Dead Djinn in Cairo
core short fiction 2016 The Dead Djinn Universe
Record
| First published | 2016 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | short fiction |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.99 (20,309 ratings, collected 2026-09-14) |
| Page count | 43 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780765389442 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
Opening the Dead Djinn Universe, this story is set in an alternate 1912 Cairo where clockwork angels, magic, and supernatural creatures coexist openly with the mundane world following a mystic's restoration of magic decades earlier. Special Investigator Fatma el-Sha'arawi of the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities is called in on what initially looks like a routine case, the apparent suicide of a foreign diplomat found inside a locked room alongside the body of a djinn. As Fatma pursues the investigation through Cairo's underworld of ghouls, hidden cults, and mercenary assassins, what first seemed a simple death unravels into something far larger, drawing her toward a conspiracy tied to relics from the age when magic first returned to the world and threatening consequences well beyond the original crime scene.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Dead Djinn Universe
- Series: The Dead Djinn Universe core; position 1 of 3 in the series' recorded order
- Author: P. Djèlí Clark
Notes
- From the series record (The Dead Djinn Universe): Core Canon = all 3 works (Tor.com/Tordotcom, 2016-2021) despite mixed lengths -- under the collection-as-Core precedent, extended here to a single continuous continuity told across escalating lengths (short story, then novella, then novel) rather than a novel series with occasional side fiction. No further installment has been announced as of 2026-08-11.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series The Dead Djinn Universe: position 1 of 3: next The Haunting of Tram Car 015 (2019)
Sources
- Wikipedia: A Master of Djinn
- Wikipedia: The Haunting of Tram Car 015
- https://pdjeliclark.com/books/a-dead-djinn-in-cairo/
← The Dead Djinn Universe dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.