Thursday, October 25, 2012

A Drop of Chinese Blood-James Church

A Drop of Chinese Blood


James Church

Minotaur, Nov 13 2012, $24.99

ISBN: 9780312550639



Near the North Koran and Russian borders, Ministry of State Security chief of the Yanji Sector/Special Bureau (YS/SB) Major Bing is a legend back in Beijing headquarters as he has remained in charge for seven years when the betting line had been under a year. He knows his career is over as his success in the desolate region means he can never leave. Currently he lives with his highly regarded uncle Inspector O (see The Man with the Baltic Stare) though their relationship is an odd respectful and affectionate discord.



Beautiful Fang Mei-lin arrives at their home seeking the assistance of Inspector O. Almost immediately after she left their home, she crosses the Tumen River into North Korea. Her pleading and subsequent vanishing force a hesitant Bing, accompanied by his even more reluctant uncle, to travel to North Korea in search of a missing Chinese official.



This is a terrific Inspector O spin off series that has the brilliant sleuth working with his nephew as the pair head into the older relative’s homeland. The storyline is fast-paced with a fabulous dangerous inquiry enhanced by an exorbitant sense of deep rooted paranoia that permeates everyone in the region as even the Intel crowd know the criticality of adhering to Sergeant Shultz’s (Hogan's Heroes) survival philosophy: “I see NOTHING! I know NOTHING!”



Harriet Klausner



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