Here are 9 books that Inspector Lu Fei fans have personally recommended once you finish the Inspector Lu Fei series.
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I’ve turned lessons from a 30-year career with the Central Intelligence Agency into crime fiction loaded with intrigue and deception. My Detective Emilia Cruz mystery series pits the first female police detective in Acapulco against Mexico's drug cartels, government corruption, and social inequality. Readers will love Detective Cruz’s complex plots, fast action, and exotic location. I’m originally from upstate New York, the setting for the upcoming Galliano Club thriller series. My family tree includes a mayor, a Mensa genius, and the first homicide in the state of Connecticut with an automatic weapon. After killing two people, including his wife, my great-grandfather eluded a state-wide manhunt. He was never brought to justice.
The South Pacific nation of Fiji is a magical place, as
I found out many years ago on a scuba trip that evolved into a circuit of the main
island of Viti Levu. For tourists, the island chain offers the gold standard of
tropical paradise resorts, but the story for the Fijians is considerably more
complicated. The islands are widely scattered, race relations led to government
coups, economic opportunities are limited, and old ways are under pressure from
modern expectations.
Using cultural elements like canoe racing, as well as a
foreboding sense of the conflict inherent in Fijian life today, Fiji becomes a
marvelous place for trouble. I could almost smell the hibiscus! And the
sunscreen! This story nearly had me booking a flight before I was halfway
through.
Fiji’s complexities are woven into the plot, which would be
impossible to set anywhere else. Modern beach fun and age-old traditions…
An island paradise. A grisly murder. Can a detective put his rugby days behind him to tackle a killer case?
Josefa “Joe” Horseman holds out hope for a comeback. But after riding high in top class rugby, returning to the Fiji detective force with a bum knee and a promotion-hungry new partner wasn’t what he had in mind. So he knows he'll have to up his game when guests at an island resort discover a young maid’s corpse snagged on the reef.
Sorting through the victim’s list of jealous admirers, Horseman's under pressure to solve the case before the high-end…
I’ve turned lessons from a 30-year career with the Central Intelligence Agency into crime fiction loaded with intrigue and deception. My Detective Emilia Cruz mystery series pits the first female police detective in Acapulco against Mexico's drug cartels, government corruption, and social inequality. Readers will love Detective Cruz’s complex plots, fast action, and exotic location. I’m originally from upstate New York, the setting for the upcoming Galliano Club thriller series. My family tree includes a mayor, a Mensa genius, and the first homicide in the state of Connecticut with an automatic weapon. After killing two people, including his wife, my great-grandfather eluded a state-wide manhunt. He was never brought to justice.
Having travelled in Africa, I’m always keen to find books
set on the continent. It’s a bonus if suspense is involved and a double bonus
if the story hinges on the setting. This book gets high marks in both
departments. It was a better immersive experience than if I’d rented an Airbnb
and watched the action unfold from the front porch.
Rural South Africa is home to advice columnist and
cooking authority Tannie Maria (Tannie meaning Auntie, the respectful
Afrikaans address for a woman older than you) in the first book in this unique
and extraordinary series. A middle-aged widow, she offers advice and recipes to
the lovelorn and others who write the local newspaper.
One letter-writer is a woman desperate to escape her abusive
husband: an echo of Tannie Maria’s own fraught past. When the woman is
murdered, Tannie Maria becomes dangerously entwined in the investigation,
despite the best…
'Vivid, amusing and immensely enjoyable . . . A triumph' Alexander McCall Smith
Meet Tannie Maria: the loveable writer of recipes in her local paper, the Klein Karoo Gazette.
One Sunday morning, as Maria stirs apricot jam, she hears her editor Harriet on the stoep. What Maria doesn't realise is that Harriet is about to deliver a whole basketful of challenges and the first ingredient in two new recipes - recipes for love and murder.
A delicious blend of intrigue, milk tart and friendship, join Tannie Maria in her first investigation. Consider your appetite whetted for a whole new series…
I’ve turned lessons from a 30-year career with the Central Intelligence Agency into crime fiction loaded with intrigue and deception. My Detective Emilia Cruz mystery series pits the first female police detective in Acapulco against Mexico's drug cartels, government corruption, and social inequality. Readers will love Detective Cruz’s complex plots, fast action, and exotic location. I’m originally from upstate New York, the setting for the upcoming Galliano Club thriller series. My family tree includes a mayor, a Mensa genius, and the first homicide in the state of Connecticut with an automatic weapon. After killing two people, including his wife, my great-grandfather eluded a state-wide manhunt. He was never brought to justice.
I love the combination of a historical mystery with a
little-known location, but this book also charmed me with a spare but fluid
writing style. Ceylon in the 1930s under British rule (today Ceylon is
the independent nation of Sri Lanka) sets the first book in the addictive Inspector Shanti de Silva mystery series
in a riveting yet mostly overlooked moment in history. Add a superbly written
cast of characters and set them at odds against each other, and I’m hooked on
the whole series.
De Silva is the head of a 3-person police force in the
smallish city of Nuala where he must straddle the divide between the local
population and his British bosses. Reports of a cruel tea plantation owner lead
to a missing worker and the owner’s suspicious debt. A dubious business
associate, a frazzled wife, and a chatty mynah bird all combine to add layers
of…
Meet Inspector Shanti de Silva, the new chief of police in Nuala, a sleepy town in the beautiful tea country of colonial Ceylon. He moved from the big city in search of a quiet life, but now that he’s faced with the suspicious death of an arrogant plantation owner, it looks like Nuala won’t be as peaceful as he’d hoped. He’s going to need all his experience to unravel the mystery and prove his worth to his new British boss. A vintage-style mystery set in the 1930s, spiced with colourful characters and a dash of humour.
I’ve turned lessons from a 30-year career with the Central Intelligence Agency into crime fiction loaded with intrigue and deception. My Detective Emilia Cruz mystery series pits the first female police detective in Acapulco against Mexico's drug cartels, government corruption, and social inequality. Readers will love Detective Cruz’s complex plots, fast action, and exotic location. I’m originally from upstate New York, the setting for the upcoming Galliano Club thriller series. My family tree includes a mayor, a Mensa genius, and the first homicide in the state of Connecticut with an automatic weapon. After killing two people, including his wife, my great-grandfather eluded a state-wide manhunt. He was never brought to justice.
The tropical atmosphere of contemporary Medellin,
Colombia is the setting for the first book in the Nikki Garcia corporate
espionage thriller series. Still reeling from her young son’s tragic death,
savvy international auditor Nikki Garcia accepts an assignment to investigate
fraud allegations at the Colombian affiliate of a multinational corporation. I
loved Nikki’s sharp-edged inner voice and canny observations.
The impeccable cultural details really caught my attention.
For example, right in the first scene, Nikki watches a wealthy businessman
light a cigar. From the Churchill brand to the way he lights it with a strip of
cedarwood to the way he makes her wait, not only could I see the scene in my
mind’s eye, but I could smell the tang of burning wood and tobacco and resent
his snobby attitude. So. Well. Done.
Infamous drug kingpin Pablo Escobar is long gone from
Medellin, but his dangerous legacy is not…
Named Best Fiction Book of the Year, 2017, by Killer Nashville!
Handsome Colombian men and life-threatening danger were not normally a part of Nikki's auditing job, but this assignment was anything but normal. Despite her emotional wounds, she accepts the challenge as a way to overcome the loss of her young son in a tragic event.
In the midst of the male-dominated business world in Colombia, she investigates mismanagement allegations and uncovers a sinister plot involving fraud . . . and possibly murder. She also discovers an attractive man who seems to have feelings for her. As her relationship with…
I grew up in a small town in the days before the internet and cable television, so books were my escape, and through them, I traveled to faraway places and learned about different customs and cultures. Later, I studied Chinese cultural anthropology and lived and worked in Asia for many years. Now, I write a series about a Chinese police inspector in the brutally cold far north province of Heilongjiang and use mystery stories to unpack some of the more fascinating and essential aspects of Chinese society, politics, and religion.
This is a non-fiction travelogue deep into the heart of Mexican narco country.
Journalist Richard Grant’s borderline insane self-inflicted quest was to travel through the Sierra Madre mountains, some of the world’s toughest and most dangerous terrain, home to bandits, drug smugglers, opium cultivators, cowboys, folk healers, and hermits.
His adventures are fascinating, entertaining, and hair-raising. One episode in particular, when he was hunted through the night by a couple of Mexicans who seemed bent on killing him for sport, sent chills down my spine.
I recommend this for anyone interested in the outlaws, outcasts, shamans, and the realities of narco-economics.
From the acclaimed author of Dispatches From Pluto and Deepest South of All, a harrowing travelogue into Mexico’s lawless Sierra Madre mountains.
Twenty miles south of the Arizona-Mexico border, the rugged, beautiful Sierra Madre mountains begin their dramatic ascent. Almost 900 miles long, the range climbs to nearly 11,000 feet and boasts several canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon. The rules of law and society have never taken hold in the Sierra Madre, which is home to bandits, drug smugglers, Mormons, cave-dwelling Tarahumara Indians, opium farmers, cowboys, and other assorted outcasts. Outsiders are not welcome; drugs are the primary source…
I am the MD of a Hong Kong-based software and AI consulting company, keeping me on top of all the latest AI technological developments. Previously, I worked in Hollywood, writing scripts, adapting novels, and working in production. My scripts have won awards at several prestigious screenwriting festivals throughout the world. However, wanting to expand my creative horizon, I wrote my first novel, The Dead Chip Syndicate, and quickly found a traditional publisher for it in 2022. Release is set for July 2023. It's the first in my Exotics series, which follows the exploits of an ex-pat navigating the Asian gambling world as he gets embroiled in one scandal and scam after another.
Another darkly comic thriller that is stunningly original and filled with cinema-worthy characters.
The book opens when an African American Marine meets a ghastly end inside a bolted-shut Mercedes that is filled with deadly cobras. Two cops arrive at the scene, but only one survives the ordeal. Sonchai Jitpleecheep, a devout Buddhist, watches his partner die from a cobra bite and vows revenge.
He teams up with an American FBI agent brought in to work the case. They chase a killer through the atmospheric streets of Bangkok, navigating through a world of illicit drugs, colorful prostitutes, and infinite corruption. Sonchai is a complex protagonist, filled with wry humor and a dogged determination that the reader will admire all the way to its intriguing end.
In surreal Bangkok, city of temples and brothels, where Buddhist monks in saffron robes walk the same streets as world-class gangsters, a US marine sergeant is killed inside a locked Mercedes by a maddened python and a swarm of cobras. Two policemen - the only two in the city not on the take - arrive too late. Minutes later, only one is alive.
The cop left standing, Sonchai Jitpleecheep, is a devout Buddhist and swears to avenge the death of his partner and soul brother. To do so he must use the forensic techniques of the modern policing and his…
I grew up in a small town in the days before the internet and cable television, so books were my escape, and through them, I traveled to faraway places and learned about different customs and cultures. Later, I studied Chinese cultural anthropology and lived and worked in Asia for many years. Now, I write a series about a Chinese police inspector in the brutally cold far north province of Heilongjiang and use mystery stories to unpack some of the more fascinating and essential aspects of Chinese society, politics, and religion.
Ryu Murakami is a musician, writer, and film director. He deals in surrealism and the dark side of a rigid Japanese society – drugs, sex, alienation.
In this book, Murakami relates the tale of Kenji, a young man who makes his living guiding foreigners through Tokyo’s red-light district. Kenji’s new client is an extremely odd American named Frank.
As Kenji leads Frank through a labyrinth of hostess bars and peep shows, he comes to suspect that Frank may be the serial killer who has been on a rampage, murdering and dismembering teenage girls.
From postmodern Renaissance man Ryu Murakami, master of the psychothriller and director of Tokyo Decadence, comes this hair-raising roller-coaster ride through the nefarious neon-lit world of Tokyo's sex industry. In the Miso Soup tells of Frank, an overweight American tourist who has hired Kenji to take him on a guided tour of Tokyo's sleazy nightlife. But Frank's behavior is so strange that Kenji begins to entertain a horrible suspicion-that his new client is in fact the serial killer currently terrorizing the city. It is not until later, however, that Kenji learns exactly how much he has to fear and how…
I grew up in a small town in the days before the internet and cable television, so books were my escape, and through them, I traveled to faraway places and learned about different customs and cultures. Later, I studied Chinese cultural anthropology and lived and worked in Asia for many years. Now, I write a series about a Chinese police inspector in the brutally cold far north province of Heilongjiang and use mystery stories to unpack some of the more fascinating and essential aspects of Chinese society, politics, and religion.
The White Tigeris a witty and searing portrayal of a “self-made” man who has risen from the depths of abject poverty to a position of wealth and influence.
The India portrayed is far from the glitz and romantic notions of Bollywood. It is a desperately poor place where the “haves” live like kings and the “have-nots" live like slaves.
In addition to shedding light on some of the harsh realities of class, economics, and corruption in India, The White Tigersomehow manages to subvert expectations and coax the reader into rooting for a murderer and thief who justifies his actions, not entirely convincingly, by describing himself as a sort of working-class hero.
Balram Halwai is the White Tiger - the smartest boy in his village. His family is too poor for him to afford for him to finish school and he has to work in a teashop, breaking coals and wiping tables. But Balram gets his break when a rich man hires him as a chauffeur, and takes him to live in Delhi. The city is a revelation. As he drives his master to shopping malls and call centres, Balram becomes increasingly aware of immense wealth and opportunity all around him, while knowing that he…
I grew up in a small town in the days before the internet and cable television, so books were my escape, and through them, I traveled to faraway places and learned about different customs and cultures. Later, I studied Chinese cultural anthropology and lived and worked in Asia for many years. Now, I write a series about a Chinese police inspector in the brutally cold far north province of Heilongjiang and use mystery stories to unpack some of the more fascinating and essential aspects of Chinese society, politics, and religion.
This is an autobiographical tale by an American journalist on the crime beat in Tokyo.
It’s not only a riveting tour of the underbelly of Japanese society – hostess bars, yakuza gangs, murder, and mayhem – it’s a fascinating cultural journey.
The author, Jake Adelstein, studied at a Japanese university and fell into journalism almost as an afterthought.
His description of the stringent procedures for getting hired, the brutally hierarchical nature of working for a major Japanese daily, and his growth as an intrepid investigative reporter is a must-read for anyone interested in Japanese culture, society, media, and crime.
A riveting true-life tale of newspaper noir and Japanese organised crime from an American investigative journalist. Soon to be a Max Original Series on HBO Max
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EITHER ERASE THE STORY, OR WE'LL ERASE YOU. AND MAYBE YOUR FAMILY. BUT WE'LL DO THEM FIRST, SO YOU LEARN YOUR LESSON BEFORE YOU DIE.
From the only American journalist ever to have been admitted to the insular Tokyo Metropolitan Police press club: a unique, first-hand, revelatory look at Japanese culture from the underbelly up.
At nineteen, Jake Adelstein went to Japan in search of peace and tranquility. What he got was a…
