The Last Mandarin

 The Last Mandarin is a collaboration between incredible mystery author Louise Penny and non fiction author and news correspondent, Mellissa Fung.

What a terrific combination that turns out to be.  Using the historical facts of the Titanium Square and the young people who were revolting against the new regime who were taking over China and changing the government. Starting with the iconic picture of the small thin boy, later named, Tank Man,  standing holding back the tanks at Titanium Square in 1989.  The protests ended in violence and a crackdown by the Peoples’ Liberation Army.  Many of the dissidents escaped through a program called Yellow Bird to Hong Kong and the US.  Many foreign intellect agencies were involved, including the CIA. 

Now imagine that 50 years later some of the teenagers involved in the original revolt have been secretly meeting underground all this time and planning their next uprising.  With all the new technology and innovations it is time to reveal themselves.  Using history and superstitions of Chinese emperors, Fung and Penny have created a fascinating storyline that brings the past to meet the present.  

It may even be a futuristic. In this scenerio all the countries are in conference trying to work together after a siren is sounded all around the world at the exact same moment.  Then days later another attack on the world happens that kills thousands.  Working hard to find out who is to blame and uncover the spies within the administration each world leader needs to figure out who they can trust and who they should fear.

Written with quick scene changes, between the government officials and switching to the group of citizens who with knowledge of the situation are racing to save the world before the next attack. 

The suspense is palpable, written so tightly that your heart rate is rising as you hope that the danger will not reach the worst case result.  You are running through tunnels with the hero's, and hoping the US President will understand the secret messages the Chinese Prime Minister is trying to convey and the  opposite way around also.  

A Deadly Episode

Author Anthony Horowitz has outdone himself again. In the 6th installment of the Horowitz Hawthorne mystery series .  This time in A Deadly Episode , Horowitz and Hawthorne meet up with a producer who wants to make the first book, The Word is Murder, into a film.  Horowitz plays himself and explains that though he is interested in writing the screenplay, the producer wants someone else to write it.  his manager agrees that he is too busy to write it.  So he and Hawthorne are on set to watch as actors play their characters and the story gets told not quite to Horowitz’s liking.

Anthony is coming to terms with all these issues including that he does not like their choice for the actor playing him, though no one seems to have wanted the role. Then there is an actual murder of one of the cast members and Hawthorne and Horowitz are once again working to uncover the murderer. 

Their relationship is as usual fraught with disagreements and difference of opinion. It is so entertaining to watch how Anthony Horowitz writes himself into the story using real life information about himself, his wife and his career to interact with a fictional character. Hawthorne is the private detective who has been fired from the police department. Horowitz is the follower who writes the story after the murder is solved. He is the Watson to Hawthorne’s Holmes. 

The Foursome

 The Foursome is a story you could not have imagined.  Author Christine Baker Kline has scoured through the archives, letters and history of the legendary Siamese twins, Ing and Chang to tell their story.

What an amazing book.  I read a preview copy and I am blown away.  The writing is terrific by author Christine Baker Kline, but I knew that from reading her previous novels. This story is so unbelievable in and of itself, and Kline retells it and embellished beautifully.

You will not be able to put down the book as you move in with Eng and Chang the famous Siamese twins who lived their lives attached at the hip to each other.  They married and each had a family with many children. They lived remarkable lives as did their wives and children.

A compelling story.