Book Review: The Lost Dragon Murder by Michael Allan Mallory: Sunday Salon

 

The Lost Dragon Murder by Michael Allan Mallory, December 31, 2021, BookLocker

Genre: traditional detective novel

First paragraph:

For a man who hated violence Henry Lau was awfully good at it. Well schooled in the way of the fist, he had considerable experience in its use....

My comments:

As the first in a planned series of mystery and police procedural novels featuring Detective Henry Lau, The Lost Dragon Murder introduces the main character and his side kick, his niece Detective Janet Lau, in some detail.

Henry has practiced the traditional Chinese art of Wing Chun kung fu for over 20 years, and is therefore an expert in it.  For self defense as well as to form a philosophy of life, Wing Chun allows Henry to cope with life's vagiaries, including the trauma of the loss of his great love, Kay. 

When Henry saves the life of a professor of Asian Studies in an apparent mugging, little did he know that the same professor would again be targeted because of a one-of-a-kind Chinese bronze dragon figurine. This priceless item is sought not only by an unknown collector but also by the Chinese government seeking the return of cultural artifacts.

I enjoyed the book because of the detailed character development as well as the plot and its action. I'm looking forward to more of Detective Lau in future books in the new series. 

What are you planning to read this week?

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Mailbox Monday, and Sunday Salon

Book Review: Red Thread of Fate by Lyn Liao Butler

 

Red Thread of Fate by Lyn Liao Butler

Pub Date 08 Feb 2022

Berkley Publishing Group, Berkley

Genre: multicultural interest, women's fiction

Rating: 4.5/5 

Source: Netgalley

My comments:

A sudden tragedy leaves Tam a widow, one who finds herself in charge of a cousin's five-year-old daughter and facing a decision of whether to go through with her pending adoption of a young boy in China. 

The accident that kills Tam's husband, Tony, and his cousin Mia haunts her days, as she struggles with the idea of raising two young children on her own.  

A heartfelt story but with a predictable ending, the novel keeps your attention,  especially as it takes you through the complex process of going through with an adoption from China.

********

First Chapter of Red Thread of Fate:

She was on the phone with her husband when he died.

Tamlei Kwan leaned against a wall outside the elementary school during her lunch break, her phone tucked between her ear and shoulder.  

First Chapter/Intros is a weekly meme hosted by Yvonne at Socrates Book Reviews.

Sunday Salon: The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Mailbox Monday, and Sunday Salon  

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd, March 15, 2022, William Morrow

Genre: suspense, cartography, speculative fiction

Source: NetGalley advance reading copy

I learned something new about cartographers and the making of maps, about collections of ancient, old, and extremely valuable graphic representations. I was intrigued by the novel's plot of six post graduate students who followed their vision of how they could create a new way of seeing and mapping the world through new methods and their fantastical, astounding new discovery. How their attempts and discovery affect a grown-up Nell, the only child in the group, the toddler belonging to the only married couple in the student unit, is the focus of this story. 

Intense and suspenseful in parts, I was doubtful in the middle of the book but then was totally pulled in by the plot and later events. 

Sunday Salon: The Lost Dragon Murder by Michael Allan Mallory

 New mystery series:

This is the first in a series of mystery books featuring Detective Henry Lau. Looking forward to reading and reviewing it soon.

The Lost Dragon Murder by Michael Allan Mallory, December 31, 2021, BookLocker

Genre: traditional detective novel

Description: The murder of an art expert and the disappearance of a priceless artifact propels Detective Henry Lau into the nebulous world of ancient antiquities. Complicating matters is a parade of dodgy suspects who wouldn’t know a truthful statement if it bit them on the leg. Solving a cryptic clue left by the dead man may be the only way to unlock the mystery.

But can he do it? Back on active duty after near-fatal injuries kept him sidelined, Henry is determined to prove he can still do the job. His detective skills and Wing Chun kung fu knowledge are put to the test when the case spirals to a dangerous showdown. (publisher)

My library books:

My library books, mosty mysteries and a fantasy, except for Lemon. Which book would you start with? 

Have you read any of these authors? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Mailbox Monday, and Sunday Salon  

First Chapter: Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line

 

First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros are hosted by Socrates Book Reviews. Teaser Tuesdays by The Purple Booker

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara, February 4, 2020, Random House. Award winning novel based on a true story, a mystery set in the slums of India. 

CHAPTER I

This Story Will Save Your Life

 

When Mental was alive, he was a boss-man with eighteen or twenty children working for him, and he almost never raised his hand against any of them. Every week he gave them 5Stars to split between themselves, or packs of Gems, and he made them invisible to the police or evangelist-types who wanted to salvage them from the streets, and the men who watched them with hungry eyes as the children hurtled down railway tracks, gathering up plastic water bottles before a train could ram in to them.  

 

Publisher description: Nine-year-old Jai ... decides to use the crime-solving skills he has picked up from episodes of Police Patrol to find a missing schoolmate,...ventures into some of the most dangerous parts of the city. But kids continue to vanish, and Jai and two friends must confront terrified parents, an indifferent police force and soul-snatching djinns in order to uncover the truth.

My review on goodreads:

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Realistic, eye-opening, heart breaking. Life and survival in the slums through the eyes of a ten year-old boy who decides with two classmates to become detectives and find out why and how children in their settlement have begun to disappear. Good character development that allows you into the hearts and minds of the people in the slums.

View all my reviews

Sunday Salon: A New Book and an Old

 A new book and an old: 

Words to Make a Friend: A Story in Japanese and English, November 9, 2021, Random House Studio

This delightful bilingual picture book for children shows a Japanese girl and an American girl communicating in both languages while playing outdoors in the snow. Simple words and phrases by one girl in English are repeated in Japanese by the other girl. Lovely illustrations. 

Lovers at the Chameleon Club by Francine Prose was published in 2014 by Harper. I found the book again while paring down my home library, and because of the stunning cover and the topic, Paris in 1932, I now mean to read it!

The lives of selected athletes, socialites, writers, photographers in Paris from 1920 to the beginning of the war, 1932, have been researched and reimagined for fiction, their names changed in the book.

"Paris in the 1920s shimmers with excitement, dissipation, and freedom. It is a place of intoxicating ambition, passion, art, and discontent, where louche jazz venues like the Chameleon Club draw expats, artists, libertines, and parvenus looking to indulge their true selves." (book description)

What are you reading this week? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Mailbox Monday, and Sunday Salon  

Book Beginning: The Taste of Ginger by Mansi Shah

 The Taste of Ginger by Mansi Shah, January 1, 2022, Lake Union Publishing

Genre: multi-cultural, contemporary fiction, family drama, romance

Description: a family tragedy beckons Preeti Desai, a first-generation immigrant in the U.S., back to the city of her birth in India. There, she has to navigate her way through a cultural and generational minefield as she tries to maintain her personal independence and a carefully nurtured Western outlook. 

Book beginning:

A gaggle of women, all speaking over each other in loud, animated voices, filled my parents' small living room. It was like watching a National Geographic special about social dominance, where pitch and decibel level determined the leader. They wandered around the room, grazing on homemade samosas and pakoras, careful not to get oily crumbs on the delicate fabric of their brightly colored saris. 

 Page 56: 

Until yesterday, we hadn't spoken in months. Not since she found out that my boyfriend - now ex-boyfriend - and I had been living together in Los Angeles. 

Would you read on?

The Friday 56. Find any sentence that grabs you on page 56 of your book. Post it, and add your URL to Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginnings at Rose City Reader.