Death Money

February 17, 2014
Born and raised in Manhattan’s Chinatown, Chang puts his familiarity with the neighborhood to good use in his fourth novel featuring NYPD officer Jack Yu (after 2010’s Red Jade). When a floater that surfaces in the Harlem River turns out to be Chinese, Yu leaves his downtown precinct to investigate. Eventually, the authorities identify the dead man as Yao Sing Chang. Yao worked for about a month at a Chinese restaurant under an alias, but little else is clear about him. Yu knocks on the usual doors, looking into street gangs and the shadowy tongs that control the lives of Chinatown’s residents. The trail leads to the Gee family, noodle manufacturers who on the surface are an immigrant success story. While the investigation follows familiar lines, the depiction of a Chinatown that tourists don’t see (e.g., seedy strip clubs) sets this apart from other gritty police procedurals. Agents: Dana Adkins and Debbie Phillips, Adkins & Phillips Agency.