The Lord of Death: A Shan Tao Yun Investigation - Hardcover

Pattison, Eliot

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1569475792 ISBN 13: 9781569475799

Publisher: Soho Crime, 2009

Synopsis

Praise for the Tao Yun Shan series:

“Majestic.”—The New York Times Book Review

“A powerful picture of courage in the face of tyranny.”—The Washington Post

“Nothing I’ve read or seen about how China has systematically crushed the soul of Tibet has been as effective.”—Chicago Tribune

Shan Tao Yun is an exiled Chinese national and a former Beijing investigator on parole from the Tibetan gulag to which he had been consigned as punishment. He is ferrying a corpse on muleback over the slopes of Chomolungma—Everest—at the request of a local wisewoman who says the gods have appointed this task to him, when he encounters what looks like a traffic accident. A government bus filled with imprisoned illegal monks has overturned. Then Shan hears gunfire. Two women in an approaching sedan have been killed. One is the Chinese minister of tourism; the other, a blond Westerner, organizes climbing expeditions. Though she dies in his arms, Shan is later met with denials that this foreigner is dead.

Shan must find the murderer, for his recompense will be the life and sanity of his son, Ko, imprisoned in a Chinese “yeti factory” where men are routinely driven mad.

Eliot Pattison is an international lawyer based near Philadelphia. His five previous Shan novels have been critical and commercial successes. He won the Edgar® Award for Best First Novel and was nominated for the Crime Writers’ Association Golden Dagger.

About this title

About the Author

Eliot Pattison is an international lawyer based near Philadelphia. His five previous Shan novels, set in Tibet, have been critical and commercial successes. He won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel and was nominated for the Crime Writers' Association Golden Dagger.

Reviews

Starred Review. Edgar-winner Pattison blends an eye-opening look at contemporary China with a traditional whodunit in his stellar sixth Tibet mystery (after 2007's Prayer of the Dragon). Shan Tao Yun, exiled after a career pursuing high-level corruption in the Chinese government, is arrested for the murder of China's minister of tourism, gunned down along with an American woman, Megan Ross, near Mount Everest at about the time an avalanche crushed a military bus transporting political prisoners. Though Shan persuades the arresting officer to release him from custody, he's replaced in the dock by Colonel Tan, Shan's only hope of rescuing his imprisoned son, Shan Ko. If he's to see Shan Ko again, Shan must clear the colonel by finding the real killer. The official consensus that Ross, a veteran climber, is still alive complicates Shan's efforts. Newcomers as well as those already emotionally invested in the resourceful and ethical sleuth will cheer him on. Author tour. (June)
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*Starred Review* Readers seeking a change from urban whodunits have embraced Edgar Award–winner Pattison’s superlative series set in ethereal, enigmatic, long-enduring Tibet. Shan Tao Yun, disgraced Beijing investigator and survivor of a Tibetan gulag, now spends his days quietly dwelling among residents of the “Roof of the World.” Over the years, his intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the Chinese political system has proved invaluable in solving a host of compelling conundrums. In this sixth installment (after Prayer of the Dragon, 2007), Shan is transporting a corpse over the slopes of Mt. Everest when he hears gunfire. Two women—a Chinese minister and an outspoken American hiker—have been shot and left for dead at the side of the road. The Chinese authorities are quick to blame the inhabitants of a local village, who have long harbored animosity toward a government that sees Tibet’s majestic mountains as little more than a tourist commodity. Shan questions revered soothsayers and surly colonels in search of answers, ever aware that the survival of his son Ko—currently imprisoned in a Chinese asylum—depends on his success. Pattison serves as literary ambassador to beautiful, brutal Tibet in a tale that engages, enlightens, and entertains. --Allison Block

Edition details

• Publisher: Soho Crime
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1569475792
• ISBN 13: 9781569475799
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384