The Eye of Jade

Far more than a mystery featuring Beijing's first private investigator, this is a rich story about crosscurrents of culture: between modern and ancient China, government and private enterprise, city slickers and up-from-the-country wannabes, and foreign- educated yuppies and survivors of the Cultural Revolution. Cindy Cheung's narration is flawless. She pronounces both Chinese and English like a native speaker. Listening to this audiobook brings one right to the heart of the new and complex China, and to the heart of Mei Wang, a reflective and slightly disconnected private eye. Cheung's pitch-perfect voice evokes a moody sense of place, from Beijing's back alleyways to its label-conscious shopping district, offering a window on a world of secrets and heartbreak. B.M. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

November 26, 2007
Chinese exile Liang, who fled her country after participating in the Tiananmen Square protests, makes an impressive debut with this understated mystery set in the late 1990s, the first in a prospective series. After resigning from the ministry of public security, Mei Wang launches a private investigative agency, a technically illegal business in China, much to her family’s dismay. After an old family friend, “Uncle” Chen Jitian, hires Mei to track down a jade seal from the Han dynasty, previously believed to be destroyed, Mei and her assistant, Gupin, follow slim leads to a shady dealer who might have connections to the same museum collection supposedly incinerated by the Red Guard. Readers familiar with Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs will find many parallels between that independent and unconventional PI and Mei. Mei’s challenging family life nicely complements the puzzle of the missing jade and the shifting Chinese political climate.