Find your next favorite audiobook
Become a member today and listen free for 30 daysStart your free 30 daysBook Information
Jade Dragon Mountain: A Mystery
Written by Elsa Hart
Narrated by David Shih
Book Actions
Start Listening- Publisher:
- Macmillan Audio
- Released:
- Sep 1, 2015
- ISBN:
- 9781427264558
- Format:
- Audiobook
Description
On the mountainous border of China and Tibet in 1708, a detective must learn what a killer already knows: that empires rise and fall on the strength of the stories they tell.
Li Du was an imperial librarian. Now he is an exile. Arriving in Dayan, the last Chinese town before the Tibetan border, he is surprised to find it teeming with travelers, soldiers, and merchants. All have come for a spectacle unprecedented in this remote province: an eclipse of the sun commanded by the Emperor himself.
When a Jesuit astronomer is found murdered in the home of the local magistrate, blame is hastily placed on Tibetan bandits. But Li Du suspects this was no random killing. Everyone has secrets: the ambitious magistrate, the powerful consort, the bitter servant, the irreproachable secretary, the East India Company merchant, the nervous missionary, and the traveling storyteller who can't keep his own story straight.
Beyond the sloping roofs and festival banners, Li Du can see the mountain pass that will take him out of China forever. He must choose whether to leave, and embrace his exile, or to stay, and investigate a murder that the town of Dayan seems all too willing to forget.
A Macmillan Audio production.
Book Actions
Start ListeningBook Information
Jade Dragon Mountain: A Mystery
Written by Elsa Hart
Narrated by David Shih
Description
On the mountainous border of China and Tibet in 1708, a detective must learn what a killer already knows: that empires rise and fall on the strength of the stories they tell.
Li Du was an imperial librarian. Now he is an exile. Arriving in Dayan, the last Chinese town before the Tibetan border, he is surprised to find it teeming with travelers, soldiers, and merchants. All have come for a spectacle unprecedented in this remote province: an eclipse of the sun commanded by the Emperor himself.
When a Jesuit astronomer is found murdered in the home of the local magistrate, blame is hastily placed on Tibetan bandits. But Li Du suspects this was no random killing. Everyone has secrets: the ambitious magistrate, the powerful consort, the bitter servant, the irreproachable secretary, the East India Company merchant, the nervous missionary, and the traveling storyteller who can't keep his own story straight.
Beyond the sloping roofs and festival banners, Li Du can see the mountain pass that will take him out of China forever. He must choose whether to leave, and embrace his exile, or to stay, and investigate a murder that the town of Dayan seems all too willing to forget.
A Macmillan Audio production.
- Publisher:
- Macmillan Audio
- Released:
- Sep 1, 2015
- ISBN:
- 9781427264558
- Format:
- Audiobook
About the author
Related to Jade Dragon Mountain
Reviews
Instead, he finds a town teaming with visitors, as the Emperor is about to arrive for a spectacular event: a total eclipse of the sun. He wants to be gone as quickly as possible, before the Emperor arrives, but an elderly Jesuit priest, an astronomer, dies suddenly, and Li finds evidence of murder. He's drawn in to investigating the death. He has three days.
Li quickly acquires friends and allies, starting with the wandering storyteller from Egypt. His suspects include the local magistrate himself, the magistrate's first consort, another Jesuit brother, and the ambassador of the powerful British East India Company.
This is both an excellent murder mystery, and a fascinating look at China in the late 18th century. a bonus extra is that wandering storyteller, who tells a story of Judge Dee (see Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee, and other titles by Robert van Gulik) that I had not encountered before.
Highly recommended.
It was really enjoyable. My only major complaint is that the main mystery was solved chapters and chapters before the book wrapped up all the other plot threads, which were interesting but I would have preferred to see him eliminate the other suspects sooner. Then again, I don't read many mysteries, so maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree.
Even so, I would definitely recommend it.
I made it to page 19. The dialogue is so stilted it reminds me of those ‘70s Chinese westerns. And everything so far is told, not shown. I expected far better writing for all I’ve seen and heard about this book.