The Eye of Jade: A Mei Wang Mystery
Diane Wei Liang, . . Simon & Schuster, $24 (256pp) ISBN 978-1-4165-4955-0
Chinese exile Liang, who fled her country after participating in the Tiananmen Square protests, makes an impressive debut with this understated mystery set in the late 1990s, the first in a prospective series. After resigning from the ministry of public security, Mei Wang launches a private investigative agency, a technically illegal business in China, much to her family’s dismay. After an old family friend, “Uncle” Chen Jitian, hires Mei to track down a jade seal from the Han dynasty, previously believed to be destroyed, Mei and her assistant, Gupin, follow slim leads to a shady dealer who might have connections to the same museum collection supposedly incinerated by the Red Guard. Readers familiar with Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs will find many parallels between that independent and unconventional PI and Mei. Mei’s challenging family life nicely complements the puzzle of the missing jade and the shifting Chinese political climate.
Reviewed on: 11/26/2007
Genre: Fiction
Hardcover - 333 pages - 978-1-4104-0737-5
Open Ebook - 240 pages - 978-0-330-53960-9
Open Ebook - 1 pages - 978-0-7927-5368-1
Pre-Recorded Audio Player - 978-1-60514-940-0