THE MAGISTRATE

In the midst of a national celebration, who is terrorizing the VIPs of Nangang?

Golden Week, which celebrates the founding of the People’s Republic of China, has left Director Chen Jianguo of the Nangang Investment Inviting Organization none too steady in the middle of a multiday drinking binge. He offers little resistance when a masked man calling himself Zhang commands him to get into a car, where he’s assaulted. Days later, Director Liu of the Nangang District Public Rental Housing Corporation suffers a similar and harsher punishment, the branding of his forehead with the word thief. Zhang’s parting words: “The Magistrate sends his regards.” Attacks mount over the subsequent weeks. A third victim has his hand cut off, and a fourth attack escalates into murder. Government officials tamper with the crime scene of highly ranked prosecutor Mr. Cai to suggest suicide and prevent a public outcry. All the victims are or were members of the Nangang Benevolent Association. Before the investigation ensnares the newly engaged Lu Fei, now the Deputy Chief of the Raven Valley District of northern China, it’s mangled by the machinations of disgraced ex-politician Gao Yang and Mr. Xu, the Chief of Homicide in Harbin, a hop-skip from Raven Valley, and not incidentally, Lu Fei’s sworn enemy. Klingborg’s third Inspector Lu Fei mystery is also an immersion into the current Chinese sociopolitical situation, which informs every stage of this brutal crime spree. The large cast of shady characters that populates his tale of venality and governmental corruption is balanced by the righteous Lu Fei, a beacon of integrity.

A complex, challenging crime yarn.