Shepheard’s Hotel is the grand colonial hotel in Cairo, a bubble of Western privilege where empires negotiate and secrets change hands.
| Type | Place (hotel) |
| Era | December 1928 |
| Location | Cairo |
| Chronicle | ldc |
| Spanish entry | Hotel Shepheard’s |
Description
The hotel has white columns, potted palms, wicker armchairs, a string quartet, Egyptian waiters in fezzes, ceiling fans and European tourists in white linen.
- The terrace overlooks the city; Carlo Monteverdi receives guests there and in his room.
- The corridors have ears: the electrician Bruno Paoli keeps watch, and the Staufenberg Brothers lie in ambush.
- The upper floors hold the penthouse of Paul Morand, with a crocodile pool and the head of Mata Hari.
- An elevator and an inner courtyard, where the dagger falls when Camille loses it from a ledge, serve as settings for action.
Open questions
- A “Hotel Sheffler” is named for the espionage scenes of chapter 2. It is treated as the same setting or an annex of it; this is unconfirmed.