Monday, February 4, 2019

CHINESE NEW YEAR MYSTERIES // CHINESE NEW YEAR CRIME FICTION

恭賀發財 Gung Hay Fat Choy! This is the Year of the Pig.
Chinese New Year starts tomorrow, and I've put together my latest Chinese New Year Mystery List. Included as well as specific Chinese New Year Crime Fiction, I've added some titles (scroll down) that take place in China and Taiwan, not necessarily during the New Year. As always, I welcome any additions.

CHINESE NEW YEAR MYSTERIES

The Corpses Hanging Over Paris by Cathy Ace

Year of the Dog; Red Jade by Henry Chang 
Year of the Dragon by Robert Daley 
Neon Dragon by John Dobbyn
Dim Sum Dead by Jerrilyn Farmer 
The Silent Girl by Tess Gerritsen
Chop Suey by Ty Hutchison

The Skull Cage Key by Michael Marriott
The Shanghai Moon by S.J. Rozan
City of Dragons by Kelli Stanley
The Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee by Robert Van Gulik (7th Century China) "New Year's Eve in Lan-Fang"

Short story by Mary Reed and Eric Mayer: "The Lady Fish Mystery", EQMM, September/October 1996.

"Murder Keeps No Calendar" by Cathy Ace.
The Nancy Drew Notebooks: The Chinese New Year Mystery by Carolyn Keene
The New Year Dragon Dilemma by Ron Roy

A good reference book for contemporary crime fiction in China: Chinese Justice, the Fiction: Law and Literature in Modern China by Jeffrey C. Kinkley (Stanford University Press)

Not specifically about Chinese New Year, here's a short list of mysteries set in China and Taiwan:

Ralph Arnote:  Hong Kong, China
Earl Derr Biggers: Charlie Chan: The House Without a Key, The Chinese Parrot, Behind the Curtain, The Black Camel, Keeper of the Keys
Lisa Brackmann: Rock Paper Tiger, Hour of the Ram
Adam Brookes: Night Heron
Koonchung Chan: The Fat Years 
Henry Chang: Chinatown Beat, Year of the Dog, Red Jade
Yin-Lien C. Chin: The "Stone Lion" and Other Chinese Detective Stories
Stephen Coonts: Hong Kong
Charles Cumming: Typhoon
Franklin M. Davis, Jr., Secret: Hong Kong
Chris Emmett: Hong Kong Policeman
Paul French: Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China
Jim Michael Hansen: Bad Laws
Zhou Haohui: Death Notice
Chan Ho-Kei: The Borrowed, The Locked Room of Bluebeard, The Man Who Sold the World, 13.67
Mara Hvistendahl: And The City Swallowed Them
Carolyn Keene: The Mystery of the Fire Dragon (Nancy Drew #38). Yes, Nancy goes to Hong Kong!
He Jiahong: The Madwoman; Crime De Sang; Black Holes
S.G. Kiner: The Hong Kong Connection
D.L. Kung:  The End of May Road
Diane Wei Liang, The Eye of Jade
Ed Lin:  Ghost Month, Incense, Snakes Can't Run, One Red Bastard
John L. Mariotti: The Chinese Conspiracy
Paul Mason: Rare Earth
Peter May: The Firemaker, The Killing Room, Chinese Whispers, The Firemaker
Lei Mi: Profiler
Nicole Mones, A Cup of Light
Catherine Sampson: The Pool of Unease
Lisa See: Flower Net, Dragon Bones, The Interior
Deborah Shlian: Rabbit in the Moon
Wang Shuo: Playing for Thrills
Robert Stewart: The Last Bowl of Tea
Eric Stone: Shanghaied
Nury Vittachi: The Feng Shui Detective
A.Yi: A Perfect Crime
Christopher West: Death of a Blue Lantern
Zhi Wen: Salvation at Knife's Edge
Kate Whitehead: Hong Kong Murders
Don Winslow: Shibumi (o.k., only part of the action is in China, but I love this novel!)
David Wise: Tiger Trap
Chen Xiaoquing: Sherlock in Shanghai
Qiu Xiaolong: Death of a Red Heroine, A Loyal Character Dancer, When Red is Black, A Case of Two Cities, Red Mandarin Dress, The Mao Case, Don't Cry, Tai Lake; Enigma of China, Shanghai Redemption

And, here's a wonderful blog on Writing in China by Bertrand Mialaret (in French) http://www.mychinesebooks.com/

6 comments:

Other Lisa said...

Howdy! Just to clarify, the second of my China books is HOUR OF THE RAT. There's a third in the series too, called DRAGON DAY. 新年 快乐!

Lisa (Brackmann)

Icewineanne said...

There’s also Ian Hamilton’s Ava Lee series. Many of the books are set in exclusively in China (although every book in series does have a connection to China).
Titles of the ones set in China are;
The King of Shanghai
The Dragon Head of Hong Kong (prequel)
The Goddess of Yantai
The Mountain Master of Sha Tin

Jim C. said...

Reaching back a few years, F. Van Wyck Mason's Hugh North investigated the Shanghai Bund Murders and the Hong Kong Airbase Murders.

Joan K. Lacy said...

I'd just like to add my book "All Under Heaven," a time-traveling adventure to ancient China,. launching soon.!

Lesley said...

There is also a book by Jonathon Gash in the Lovejoy series called (I think) Jade Woman

Lesley said...



"Jade Woman' by Jonathon Gash in the Lovejoy series. I think it was set in Hong Kong