Prayer of the Dragon by Eliot Pattison

Shan Tao Yun makes for a very unusual detective, as a discredited member of Beijing's police, sentenced to serve time in a Tibetan prison, but given a reprieve in a previous book to help solve a local murder.  Now he has been sent to a small village high in the Tibetan mountains to investigate a series of murders.  Of course nothing seems quite right from the start.  The two murder victims are part of a local research team from the U.S. who are attempting to establish links between the ancient religions of Tibet and the American Navajo, of which two of the research party are members. Pattison paints a vivid picture of this unique setting, and there are many plot twists to keep the story moving.  357 pages.

Pavilion of Women by Pearl S. Buck

Madame Wu is the much-admired matriarch of a prominent Chinese dynasty. On her fortieth birthday, she decides to find her husband a concubine, because that part of her life is over now. She moves out of her husband's quarters into quarters of her own, and begins to pursue her own interests. She begins to pursue intellectual pursuits, studying with a local priest. She has always been considered a woman of great wisdom, and now is becoming even wiser.

She allows her children to pursue their own lives and passions, and gives her husband permission to become his own person also. He is at first opposed to this entire enterprise, but comes to enjoy the life his wife has now gifted him with. The household continues to run efficiently, but now has more emotional connections.

This is a very interesting book. When I attempted to read it as a teenager, I found it boring. This time, I found it fascinating.


316 pages

Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong

I read about this series in the St. Louis Post Dispatch and had to check out a local author's work. I was not disappointed!  The series opens with the death of a "model worker" in Shanghai, a woman who was famous for representing the ideal worker and party member, much like rock stars, actors, and athletes are celebrated in our culture.  In the course of the murder investigation we are introduced to Chief Inspector Chen, his lieutenant Yu, and Yu's wife Peiquin. As Inspector Chen works the case methodically, we learn about the changes taking place in 1990s China: the privatization of state run industries, the rise of the high cadre children class, and the growing gap between the well-connected and the average worker. I didn't know anything about living conditions in China and was shocked to learn that even in 1990 many families lived in one-room apartments with communal bathrooms and kitchens. I enjoyed how Chen uses insights from classic Chinese poetry to understand motive and solve the case. Highly recommended. 463 pages.