appeared in 2008 (under the title The Saladin Murders in the UK). Omar Yussef travels to Gaza, where he struggles against corrupt security chiefs who are smuggling weapons. The Bookseller called it "a cracking, atmospheric read." The third book in the series, The Samaritan's Secret, was published in 2009. Set in Nablus, it takes place against the backdrop of the city's ancient casbah and the small community of Samaritans still living on a hilltop overlooking the West Bank town. The New Republic called it "a wonderful detective thriller." Rees's fourth novel, The Fourth Assassin, appeared in 2010 and showed Omar Yussef to be "one of the most beguiling of current sleuths", according to The Sunday Times. Omar goes to New York for a UN conference and uncovers an assassination plot. The Palestine Quartet novels approach the Middle East conflict from an often unexpected direction. There are almost no Israeli characters, and the novels maintain a focus on Palestinian society, good and bad. Rees has written that this perspective was dictated by his discontent with news reporting of the conflict, which focused on stereotypes of Palestinians as either terrorists or victims. Instead, Rees writes, the diversity of Palestinian society awakened him creatively and made him look at the Middle East from a different angle. For example, Gaza "is the most beautiful spot imaginable", he has said. Mozart's Last Aria, published in 2011, is a historical crime novel set in Vienna in 1791. Nannerl Mozart, the great composer's sister, comes to the Imperial capital to investigate Wolfgang's death. She uncovers a plot involving illegal Masonic meetings, espionage, and a secret hidden in her brother's last great opera The Magic Flute. The book is based on real historical research into Mozart's last days. A Name in Blood follows the mysterious disappearance and death of the Italian artist Caravaggio. Like Mozart's Last Aria, A Name in Blood takes a real historical mystery and new historical research to create a fictional account of what might have happened. The Bookbag recommended A Name in Blood "even if you're art-averse." Rees learned to play piano as part of his research for Mozart's Last Aria. Working on A Name in Blood, he learned to paint with oils and to duel using a seventeenth-century rapier. The Ambassador, published in 2015, was co-written by Rees and Yehuda Avner, a former adviser to Israeli prime ministers. The book's premise was that