Paper Butterfly: A Mei Wang MysteryDiane Wei Liang
Simon & Schuster
May 2009
reviewer: Doret
This is the second Mei Wang mystery. 31, Mei Wang was a police officers on the raise. After being forced out Mei Wang sets up her own PI business in Beijing.
I love mysteries and I have a thing for private investigators. A female PI, is an added bonus. So, I was drawn to the first Mei Wang book, The Eye of Jade last year. I loved Mei Wang. She's strong and smart and refuses to let others tell her how to run her business. Many people think its scandalous and inapporiate that she has a male assistant from the country. I enjoyed Eye of Jade and there's obvious growth in Paper Butterfly. I love an author who is willing to give more with each book.
Mei Wang is hired by a record company to find a pop star before a big concert. As with Eye of Jade, Liang gives the reader a excellent look at China's political history. Mei Wang search forces her to remember what happened in Tiananmen Square ten years ago. She believes solving this case will help make amends for not taking a stand than.
Liang's writing is very smooth, she easily incorporates facts about China into the story. I loved that this series is set in contemporary China and not during WWII. Liang's is doing an excellent job of developing Mei Liang. Like any good P.I. she has some personal issue to deal with. Creating issues is not hard, the difficulty lies in getting readers to care; Liang does this with ease. I highly recommend the Mei Wang novels for anyone who enjoys PI mysteries or novels set in China.
2 comments:
Wow. This looks like a fantastic read. And I've actually been trying to get into the PI/Mystery genre.
Heather this is a great series. The Eye of Jade and Paper Butterfly are both out in paperback.
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