The well-traveled Elsa Hart has written her first novel, a mystery: Jade Dragon Mountain. Set just before the solar eclipse of 1708, exiled librarian Li Du must solve a murder in three days. The Emperor of China is to come to a restive backwater to command the eclipse. Of course, he knows when it will happen, based on calculations made by the Jesuits at court. Li's ambitious cousin is organizing the festivities, and the murder is a dangerous distraction. Li and his new friend Hamza scramble to unravel the schemes of courtiers and foreigners, including the menacing English East India Company and to come up with the truth as opposed to a convenient answer. Hart understands the place and period well in this atmospheric and fast-paced novel.
Of course, if you're going to discuss mysteries set in China, you have to mention the prolific Qiu Xiaolong. Qiu writes of modern China in his Inspector Chen mysteries, but it is as Faulkner said, that the past is never gone, and it may not even be past. Chen finds himself navigating politics both domestic and international, a tricky business no matter who one is working for. The interesting thing about Chen is that he is an intellectual, having studied English literature in college. That the cadre system has assigned him to police detective does not prevent him from translating poets like T.S. Eliot. Qiu keeps us guessing in these compelling novels with a great sense of modern China.
Lisa See, better known perhaps for standalones like Shanghai Girls, also writes the Red Princess mysteries. These books have an almost-unparalleled sense of modern China, with the intricacies of culture and relationships with the West. These mysteries center around Liu Hulan and David Stark, a Chinese government agent and her American love interest. While the plotting can be a little too neat for some, these are good for understanding current Chinese culture with great suspense and detail.
The prolific Peter May is another chronicler of modern China and the East-meets-West tale. Margaret Campbell, an American pathologist, takes a short lecturing gig in Beijing and gets involved with a murder investigation and Li Yan, a detective. Over the series, the couple battles serial killers, politicos and each other to get their man. Not for the faint of heart, these mysteries breathe new life into the fish-out-of-water and police procedural novel.
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