Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China - Hardcover

French, Paul

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0143121006 ISBN 13: 9780143121008

Publisher: Penguin Group USA, 2012

Synopsis

Winner of the both the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime and the CWA Non-Fiction Dagger

Peking in 1937 is a heady mix of privilege and scandal, opulence and opium dens, rumors and superstition. The Japanese are encircling the city, and the discovery of Pamela Werner's body sends a shiver through already nervous Peking. Is it the work of a madman? One of the ruthless Japanese soldiers now surrounding the city? Or perhaps the dreaded fox spirits? With the suspect list growing and clues sparse, two detectivesone British and one Chineserace against the clock to solve the crime before the Japanese invade and Peking as they know it is gone forever. Can they find the killer in time, before the Japanese invade?

Historian and China expert Paul French at last uncovers the truth behind this notorious murder, and offers a rare glimpse of the last days of colonial Peking.

About this title

Product Description:

Midnight in Peking Peking, January 1937. The murder of a beautiful young British woman sends shockwaves through the city. With the suspect list growing, two detectivesNone British and one ChineseNrace against the clock to solve the crime before the Japanese invade and Peking. Full description

Review:

An instant true crime classic. Grips from the first page to the last (David Peace, author of Red Riding and The Damned United)

Fascinating and irresistible. I couldn't put it down (John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil)

Written in the style of a gripping murder mystery, but all the facts are true (Kirsty Lang BBC Radio 4 (Book of the Week))

Engrossing true crime whodunnit... A terrific read (Andrew Holgate Sunday Times)

Not only does Mr French succeed in solving the crime, he resurrects a period that was filled with glitter as well as evil (The Economist)

French has an easygoing prose style... well chosen quotes bring a new vigour and crispness... [He] succeeds in giving voice to a tragic quest for justice (Sunday Telegraph)

It is the storytelling flair that marks Midnight in Peking so highly above the run-of-the-mill true crime stories: with its false leads and twists, it sucks the reader in like the best fiction (The Scotsman)

The shocking true tale, combined with prose you can't drag yourself away from, makes Midnight in Peking a work of non fiction as compulsive as any bestselling crime novel. It also brings justice at last for a young woman whose murder nearly went unsolved (Sunday Express)

Terrific, engrossing ... a gruesome tale of a hitherto forgotten case, and of the sheer tenacity of a grieving father (Caroline Sanderson The Bookseller)

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Group USA
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0143121006
• ISBN 13: 9780143121008
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 260