Sequel to Jade Dragon Mountain. Author Elsa Hart admits to being a fan of Agatha Christie and this is a fine example of the classic "locked room" mystery so beloved of Christie fans.
In this case, the "locked room" is a snowed-in valley high in the mountains of southwest China, where the local lord and his family offer shelter to a tea caravan bound for Lhasa, and an odd assortment of other travelers, all seeking refuge from an early blizzard.
Li Du, a former imperial librarian, is traveling with the caravan along the Tea Horse Road. Heading for the manor of the local lord, Doso, the caravan discovers the body of a dead monk, with a strange symbol painted on the corpse, propped on a bridge over a deep chasm on the path leading to the manor. When they finally reach shelter, they report this unsettling news to their host.
The monk’s name was Dhamo, a hermit who lived in a small temple further up the mountain from the manor house. He had a reputation as a painter of mystical thangkas --- symbolic paintings on cloth --- much prized by wealthy monasteries of the Empire. But Dhamo was also haunted by strange visions and portents, so no one at the manor is surprised at what they all assume to be his suicide.
But when Dhamo’s final, unfinished thangka disappears from his studio, Li Du suspects there’s more here than meets the eye. He soon determines that the inhabitants of the manor and their guests are all hiding secrets, and none of them are there just by chance.
This is Hart's second mystery novel featuring Li Du, who also has secrets of his own that he must confront to come to terms with his own painful past.
Hart seamlessly weaves the political and religious intrigue of 18th century China into her plot and creates believable, complex characters. The end result: a book that is almost impossible to put down.
I read it from start to finish in just one day. A third book has just been published: City of Ink.
Elsa Hart currently lives in St. Louis. She and her husband, a botanist at the Missouri Botanical Garden, spent two years living in the mountains of southwest China, while he studied the flora of the region.
Click HERE to read a Q&A with Elsa Hart published by Criminal Element.com
Click HERE to read an interview with Hart from Publishers Weekly.
Click HERE to read a review of White Mirror from Publishers Weekly.
Click HERE to read a review from Kirkus Reviews.
Click HERE to read a review from the Washington Times.
No comments:
Post a Comment