The Shelter for Buttered Women

The 56th Man, #5

Ari Ciminon's fifth outing involves him in parallel races against time. One takes place in 2006, when he joins a diverse group of mercenaries in an attempt to rescue a kidnapped Iraqi translator. A team of Nepalese Gurkhas and ex-Fijian soldiers, led by a British ex-pat, fight their way through the streets of southern Baghdad on a night of particular historic menace.
Two years later in Richmond, Virginia, Colonel Ghaith Ibrahim (now Ari Ciminon) is hired by an insurance company to investigate truck hijackings across the state. The targeted freight carrier is owned by the remarkable Nabihah Sadiq, a woman divided between the East and the West, who has opened her mansion to Muslim women from all over the Middle East, as well as the States. Some have been battered, others are opting for a different life. But all of them share a secret.
They also share a deadly enemy: 'the Namus'. An ancient concept, 'namus' was once a simple set of ethical principles that stood for virtue and modesty within the family. Unfortunately, in later times it became associated with honor killings. Up and down the East Coast, women have died in staged accidents and suicides. Convinced that someone has hired a killer to eliminate apostate women, Nabihah begins calling the unknown assassin the Namus. Realizing Nabihah and her 'guests' will become targets, Ari is quickly drawn into the hunt.