China Books

Eddie Dare was a middle-aged San Francisco lawyer with a sinking feeling that the best part of his life was behind him. But back in 1975, when Saigon slid down the toilet, he’d been a young marine guarding a warehouse behind the U.S. Embassy. As it happened, that was where Captain Harry Austin had temporarily stashed $400 million, slipped out of the Bank of Vietnam in a shadowy, CIA-run operation. The money vanished after the American evacuation; and so did Harry Austin ? at least until his body turned up 20 years later in a muddy street outside a Bangkok massage parlour. When a man calling himself ‘the General’ dangled a million dollars at Eddie to find out what really happened to Austin - and to all that money - the adventure was too alluring to pass up. Sucked into the jagged netherworld of Bangkok, the promise of a benign ramble through lavish hotels and low-life bars quickly turned sour. Eddie was soon hurtling breathlessly through a corkscrewed realm where big-time crooks tangoed with small-time hustlers, and the downright scary jostled with the merely raffish for centre stage in the big leagues of crime. Eddie was running for his life; and there was only one way out. He had to find out what really happened to Harry Austin - and where ten tons of money went. Critical acclaim for the best-selling The Big Mango: 'There’s no room for improvement. It’s as good as it gets.' - The Bangkok Post 'Witty, inventive, and above all [a] thrilling thriller.' - The Nation (ISBN:9748237362) (For this item please quote stock ID 15980) ISBN: 9748237362

Two full novels by van Gulik, set in seventhth-century China, continue the adventures of Judge Dee and his companions. Entails an evil Taoist monastery, seemingly supernatural events and an overgrown topiary maze which hides strange crimes. (ISBN:0486235025) (For this item please quote stock ID 16116) ISBN: 0486235025

The first in the popular Fu-Manchu mystery series introduces English sleuth Denis Nayland Smith and his companion, Dr. Petrie, to the satanic Dr. Fu-Manchu, a cunning Chinese criminal mastermind who means to rule the world. Flavourful atmosphere, fast-paced action, and colourful characters enliven this 1913 classic. (ISBN:0486298981) (For this item please quote stock ID 16163) ISBN: 0486298981

In this, the second book in Robert van Gulik's classic mystery series of ancient China, Judge Dee must look into the murder of his predecessor. His job is complicated by the simultaneous disappearance of his chief clerk and the new bride of a wealthy local shipowner. Meanwhile, a tiger is terrorizing the district, the ghost of the murdered magistrate stalks the tribunal, a prostitute has a secret message for Dee, and the body of a murdered monk is discovered to be in the wrong grave. In the end, the judge, with his deft powers of deduction, uncovers the one cause for all of these seemingly unrelated events. (ISBN:0060728671) (For this item please quote stock ID 16846) ISBN: 0060728671

Combine The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood with The Joy Luck Club, add elements of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and you have this astonishing novel, Jin-shei. Set in the Middle Kingdom of Syai, Jin-shei is a story of true friendhsip and spirit; it is the story of the intertwined lives of seven jin-shei sisters. Jin-shei is a pledged sisterhood of female friends not related by blood. It is a lifetime commitment, binding and holy - its sworn sisters much closer to one another than to their own blood kin. If a sister asks anything of another in the name of the sisterhood, the request has to be honoured - at all costs. The pledge of jin-shei carries with it lifelong bonds and the sense of duty. Jin-shei sisters share a secret language which no man can read, jin-ashau, passed on from women since time immemorial. Jin-shei is inspirational in that the women come from all walks of life, proving that their bonds cross class, race, political and social boundaries. Readers are sure to identify with the charismatic, very real women and issues the author introduces. 'Beguiling ... unique ... a rich cast of characters ... for a first novel it is extraordinarily accomplished' - Financial Times (London) This fast-paced, imaginative and thoroughly engrossing fantasy explores the meaning of friendship and loyalty among eight women - sisters of the heart - in a mythical Chinese realm. Ever since the dawn of time, mothers have passed on to their daughters a special language (jin-ashu) and the existence of special friendships (jin-shei) that cross boundaries of class and heritage. Accepting someone's offer of jin-shei brings both benefits and responsibilities, and Alexander's characters find their lives both complicated and enriched by these friendships. Kito-Tai, the poet-daughter of a seamstress, is asked by Princess Antian, the emperor's oldest daughter (and empress-presumptive), to be her jin-shei, a request that will eventually change the course of the empire. Although Alexander has published four other novels in Australia and New Zealand, this is the first to be published in the US and will surely whet readers' appetites for more' - Booklist Alma Alexander was born in New Zealand, grew up in Australia and now lives in the USA. (ISBN:0007163754) (For this item please quote stock ID 21866) ISBN: 0007163754

Amid the drumming and screeching of a Chinese opera, Jake Greenberg, an American expatriate and owner of a fashionable casino, sits in the dark in a choice private box. With him is his lover, Claire Turner, a savvy and attractive American reporter for the Shanghai Daily, her niece and his host, a ruthless Chinese businessman, named Yang, who was Jake’s partner in gun running when Jake first came to China. Just before the climax of the opera, the door to the box slowly swings open ... when the lights come on, Claire’s niece and Yang are dead. With a grieving Claire helping him, Jake begins to trace Yang’s shady business dealings, his turbulent family relations and his public affair with a famous Chinese movie actress. The twisting path of the search leads to a half-crazed giant Chinese warlord, an evil female river pirate, glamorous film personalities, a sinister restaurant waiter turned gunman, a yet-to-be famous Communist leader, Zhou En-lai, and some of the very rich at the highest levels of Shanghai’s Western society. This novel of murder and intrigue in 1920s Shanghai is the first in a series of well-researched period detective novels (ISBN:9627160814) (For this item please quote stock ID 25540) ISBN: 9627160814