Blurb:
Despite the fact that she quit the CIA, Lee Carruthers is in Hong Kong doing a little job for Sidney Worthington. He’s thinks something is wrong at Wong’s Antiques. Lee finds Henry Wong—just as he’s being kidnapped by the Chau Fong Triad. What does a Triad want with an antiquities dealer? That’s one of many questions, as Lee reunites with an old lover, is caught in the middle of burgeoning democracy demonstrations, and uncovers secrets that may once again upend her life.
NOTE: The book will be on sale for only $0.99 during the tour.
Excerpt:
Hong Kong never sleeps. It was almost midnight, and the traffic was heavy, the neon signs flashing on and off, but Upper Lascar Row was quiet, the tables of tourist junk pulled inside the shops for the night. I walked softly in the shadows on the right side of the cobblestone street, looking for Wong Antiques among the red-lacquered shop fronts with signs in Chinese and English picked out in gold. The hairs on the back of my neck were prickling as if someone were watching me, and I jumped when a cat crossed the road. How could anybody be following me? I only got to Hong Kong three hours ago.
In the dim light, I saw Wong Antiques halfway up the block on the left-hand side. The only light showing was in the back, a nightlight or an office. I had crossed the street to the shop and had rung the bell once when I heard footsteps coming up the street. I slipped back across the street and melted into the doorway of a shop. Someone turned the light on in the antique shop, and a thin man wearing a blue scholar’s robe walked to the door. Henry Wong? The footsteps I heard materialized as two large men in suits. They banged on the door, and the man backed up. They banged on the door again, and he opened it unwillingly. The men were Chinese, bulky in the way a fighter is bulky, probably showing tattoos under their white shirts.
My Review:
4.5 stars
Note: Though this is book 3 of a series, it works as a standalone.
Beautiful location, fascinating characters, a non-stop thriller storyline, well-written…this book has it all. It’s a non-stop adventure from beginning to end, with plenty of humor and detailed Hong Kong descriptions to boot. My favorite part is Lee herself. Her take-no-prisoners-or-crap attitude, her resourcefulness, and her overall badassery makes for a wonderful and engaging heroine. All in all, this was a great story, and while it’s my first Lee Carruthers thriller, it won’t be my last.
*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
Author Bio and Links:
MARILYNN LAREW is a historian who has published in such diverse fields as American colonial and architectural history, Vietnamese military history, and terrorism, and has taught courses in each of them in the University of Maryland System.
This is the third volume in the Lee Carruthers series. She has also published Aftermath, in which the protagonist, Anne Carter, is a 1980 Baltimore PI, working in the wake of the Vietnamese War.
She lives with her husband in a 200-year-old brick farmhouse on the Mason-Dixon Line in southern Pennsylvania. She belongs to Sisters in Crime, Guppies, and Chinese Military History Society.
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ReplyDeleteI liked the excerpt.
ReplyDeleteSounds great.
ReplyDeleteSounds interesting
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