The Magistrate: An Inspector Lu Fei Mystery

by Brian Klingborg

Overview

A brutal murder investigation with connections to corruption at the very highest level threatens not just the career but also the life of Inspector Lu Fei in Brian Klingborg's latest mystery…

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250855015
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/02/2023
Series:	Inspector Lu Fei Series , #3
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	1,052,585
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

BRIAN KLINGBORG has both a B.A. (University of California, Davis) and an M.A. (Harvard) in East Asian Studies and spent years living and working in Asia. He is author of the Inspector Lu series, including Thief of Souls and Wild Prey. He currently works in early childhood educational publishing and lives in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

★ 03/27/2023

In Klingborg’s sharply detailed third Lu Fei mystery (after 2022’s Wild Prey), the detective—now banished from his post in Harbin to a rural county—is called in to investigate the incineration of a Korean gangster. Fei quickly uncovers that the slaying is part of an increasingly gruesome pattern targeting a corrupt group of senior Chinese civil servants. Meanwhile, an avenging angel named Hak is operating in Harbin, seeking to liberate sex trafficking victims who’ve been kidnapped and smuggled into the country from North Korea. Lu and Hak eventually join forces and the action goes from traditional sleuthing to hyperviolent revenge fantasy as they take down common enemies together. The conclusion is expertly rendered, and Klingborg does an exceptional job of illuminating Xi Jinping’s China to outside observers without being pedantic or heavy-handed. This is sure to earn the series new readers. Agent: Bob Diforio, D4EO Literary. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Action-rich…calculated to warm the heart of even the most vigilant avenger.” —Wall Street Journal

"A complex, challenging crime yarn." —Kirkus Reviews

".... expertly rendered...exceptional." —Publisher's Weekly

"... nonstop action, suspense galore, fascinating locale, and compelling characters." —BookPage (starred review)

"Original, deftly crafted, and with more plot twists and turns than a Chinese Dragon Dance." —Midwest Book Review

"An instant classic." —BookTrib

"Fast-paced fun." —The St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"... a terrific police procedural." —Globe and Mail

From the Publisher

2023-02-24
In the midst of a national celebration, who is terrorizing the VIPs of Nangang?

Golden Week, which celebrates the founding of the People’s Republic of China, has left Director Chen Jianguo of the Nangang Investment Inviting Organization none too steady in the middle of a multiday drinking binge. He offers little resistance when a masked man calling himself Zhang commands him to get into a car, where he’s assaulted. Days later, Director Liu of the Nangang District Public Rental Housing Corporation suffers a similar and harsher punishment, the branding of his forehead with the word thief. Zhang’s parting words: “The Magistrate sends his regards.” Attacks mount over the subsequent weeks. A third victim has his hand cut off, and a fourth attack escalates into murder. Government officials tamper with the crime scene of highly ranked prosecutor Mr. Cai to suggest suicide and prevent a public outcry. All the victims are or were members of the Nangang Benevolent Association. Before the investigation ensnares the newly engaged Lu Fei, now the Deputy Chief of the Raven Valley District of northern China, it’s mangled by the machinations of disgraced ex-politician Gao Yang and Mr. Xu, the Chief of Homicide in Harbin, a hop-skip from Raven Valley, and not incidentally, Lu Fei’s sworn enemy. Klingborg’s third Inspector Lu Fei mystery is also an immersion into the current Chinese sociopolitical situation, which informs every stage of this brutal crime spree. The large cast of shady characters that populates his tale of venality and governmental corruption is balanced by the righteous Lu Fei, a beacon of integrity.

A complex, challenging crime yarn.

Kirkus Reviews