Chinese police procedural thriller!

-

Wild Prey ( Inspector Lu Fei #2) by Brian Klingborg 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


Klingborg has taken up various themes and run with them through this continuation into the exploits of the very unusual Deputy Chief Inspector Lu Fei a police officer with the Public Security Bureau, in the township of Raven, Heilongjiang Province in Northern China. When we first see Lu he’s staking out a local market looking for a fugitive involved in the black market trade of exotic animal products that will be made into medicinal remedies. What with the increasing pressure from international conservationists and in the wake of the ravages of coronavirus, the Peoples Republic of China is serious about stamping out this centuries old trade.

Meanwhile a young girl, Tan Meirong, haunts the Raven police station (the paichusuo) insisting someone find her older missing sister, Meixiang. 

It turns out Meixiang was working for a restaurant that sold illicit bushmeat’s for those men needing the vigor of viagara but using the traditional, illegal methods. There’s a little more going on in this restaurant than this though.

Lu ends up going undercover into Burma (Myanmar) to source the operational headquarters of these outlawed products. What he finds is more than he’d bargained for. What he faces is dangerous in the extreme, as is the very unusual person in charge of the operation. All this is part of endeavouring to find out the fate of Miexiang. Lu’s overriding concern is for her.

Along the way were given an insight into the lives of the general populace in the PRC, the hidden face of who is entitled to medical benefits, the fate of unemployed young country women seeking to become more financially independent who often end up working as prostitutes or in sweat shop factories.

Lu’s personal life has him still endeavoring to build his relationship with the delightful Lou Yanyan owner of the tiny bar, the Red Lotus. I love their interactions. 

The pandemic flows along underneath, not focused on, just a part of life today.

Lu’s determination to do the right thing is part of the endearment of who he is. That conviction leads him into dangerous situations that had me on the edge of my seat exclaiming, “Now What?”

An enthralling and clever novel, with a lovely underlying wit, that speaks into the today of this area of the world. 

More than ever Lu is up there with my favorite Chinese detectives.


A St. Martin's Press ARC via NetGalley 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Things aren’t as they seem!

-
Image
A Murderous Tryst  (Beatrice Hyde-Care Mystery #11) by Lynn Messina    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Oh my! Bea certainly has a lot to contend with. Bea’s rattled! The Duke has been missing from their bed for a night. When a distraught Bea come downstairs the next morning she finds her beloved husband Damien clasped in the arms of a glamorous female. A female who turns out to be Kesgrave’s first mistress, Mrs. Penelope Taylor! What?! Of course Bea’s heart sinks and she falls back on her painful memories of Aunt Vera’s responses to such a situation. Bea is both shaken and traumatised, but determined not to show it.  It seems Penny has been accused of murder. Actually  Penny’s desperately trying to avoid Newgate.    As a former mistress Penny does the unthinkable thing in society’s eyes. She asks for help from Bea. Bea’s response is just as shocking. She says yes. Kesgrave is as usual inscrutable. Of course this is the beginning of a harebrained chase, complications between Bea  and Amien,  and an investiga
Read more

Women in war—Internment by the Japanese 1942-45.

-
Image
Sisters Under the Rising Sun  by Heather Morris    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A fitting tribute to the women interred by the Japanese in Indonesia and Malaya during 1942 until liberation in 1945. Amongst the internees are a group of Australian Army nurses who were not given recognition by the Japanese as members of the armed forces and therefore not prisoners of war according to the Conventions of war.  Sister Vivian Bullwinkle is the only survivor of the massacre of a group of soldiers and nurses on Radji Beach, Bangka Island near Sumatra  in 1942, after the sinking of  HMS Vyner Brooke. There are a number of civilian prisoners in the camps like Norah Chambers and her sister Ena.  Combined, the story of these women interred under terrible conditions, their struggles and achievements are monumental.  Their gifts to their fellows beyond speech. Music plays an important part in uplifting the prisoners’ spirits. It’s truly a privilege to read about their plight, their vows to each other, and their braver
Read more

The Three Muscateers—three widows, three sets of different circumstances

-
Image
The Widows' Wine Club  by Julia Jarman    ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Different enough to be interesting but I kept losing which character was which. I almost feel I need to read it again to follow who’s who. I do know that three women came together to form a support group, going to the pub for lunch etc. Better than the local widow’s group in the church hall.  All three had recently lost their husbands and now had to find a way to face their new lives. Viv Halliday is a knowledgeable gardener. Zelda Fielding is setting herself up with internet dates and searching the web for her unknown father. Janet had a controlling husband who it turned out was having affairs, and their son is just as controlling. How their lives unfold is the new challenge. A Boldwood Books ARC via NetGalley.                                               Many thanks to the author and publisher.
Read more