Jade Dragon Mountain: A Mystery
(Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)
On the mountainous border of China and Tibet in 1708, a detective must learn what a killer already knows: that empires rise and fall on the strength of the stories they tell.
Li Du was an imperial librarian. Now he is an exile. Arriving in Dayan, the last Chinese town before the Tibetan border, he is surprised to find it teeming with travelers, soldiers, and merchants. All have come for a spectacle unprecedented in this remote province: an eclipse of the sun commanded by the Emperor himself.
When a Jesuit astronomer is found murdered in the home of the local magistrate, blame is hastily placed on Tibetan bandits. But Li Du suspects this was no random killing. Everyone has secrets: the ambitious magistrate, the powerful consort, the bitter servant, the irreproachable secretary, the East India Company merchant, the nervous missionary, and the traveling storyteller who can't keep his own story straight.
Beyond the sloping roofs and festival banners, Li Du can see the mountain pass that will take him out of China forever. He must choose whether to leave, and embrace his exile, or to stay, and investigate a murder that the town of Dayan seems all too willing to forget.
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Elsa Hart. (2015). Jade Dragon Mountain: A Mystery. St. Martin's Publishing Group.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Elsa Hart. 2015. Jade Dragon Mountain: A Mystery. St. Martin's Publishing Group.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Elsa Hart, Jade Dragon Mountain: A Mystery. St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2015.
MLA Citation (style guide)Elsa Hart. Jade Dragon Mountain: A Mystery. St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2015.
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Elsa Hart is the author of several acclaimed mystery novels set in eighteenth-century China, including City of Ink, one of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2018.
She was born in Rome, but her earliest memories are of Moscow, where her family lived until 1991. Since then she has lived in the Czech Republic, the U.S.A., and China. She earned a B.A. from Swarthmore College and a J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. - name: Elsa Hart
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On the mountainous border of China and Tibet in 1708, a detective must learn what a killer already knows: that empires rise and fall on the strength of the stories they tell.
Li Du was an imperial librarian. Now he is an exile. Arriving in Dayan, the last Chinese town before the Tibetan border, he is surprised to find it teeming with travelers, soldiers, and merchants. All have come for a spectacle unprecedented in this remote province: an eclipse of the sun commanded by the Emperor himself.
When a Jesuit astronomer is found murdered in the home of the local magistrate, blame is hastily placed on Tibetan bandits. But Li Du suspects this was no random killing. Everyone has secrets: the ambitious magistrate, the powerful consort, the bitter servant, the irreproachable secretary, the East India Company merchant, the nervous missionary, and the traveling storyteller who can't keep his own story straight.
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"Perfectly melds history with the mystery genre for a lush look at China on the cusp of change. Set in the early 1700s, Jade Dragon Mountain delivers a compelling look at Chinese politics, culture and religion, delivering the complexities of each with a character-rich story...One of the year's most engrossing debuts."
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- source: USA Today
- content: "[A] measured, intelligent, first-class debut...The book augurs a brilliant career for Hart: the careful characterization, the beautifully detailed research (minced yak tongue, anyone?), and an innate feel for the enigmatic meanings of murder."
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- source: Christian Science Monitor
- content: "Entertaining and amusing...Strikingly picturesque...But Jade Dragon Mountain does more than entertain. It is also a story of history and politics, offering the reader a brief but memorable description of the clash of China's dynastic rivalries."
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Starred review from July 20, 2015
Political and religious intrigue drives Hart’s compelling debut set in 18th-century China. Disgraced Beijing librarian Li Du arrives in Dayan near the border with Burma to find his ambitious magistrate cousin preparing for the visit of the emperor and a major festival that will feature an eclipse, according to the emperor’s prediction. The sudden death of Pieter van Dalen, an elderly Jesuit astronomer, is attributed to natural causes until Li Du discovers the man’s tea was poisoned. Distrusting the conclusion that local bandits were responsible, the modest but tenacious librarian looks for potential perpetrators in his cousin’s household, including a Jesuit botanist with secrets, an English representative of the East India Company eager for trade deals, an exotic storyteller, an embittered old servant, and an enigmatic beauty serving as the magistrate’s first consort. An attempt on Li Du’s life indicates that he’s closing in on the answer. Hart’s sure command of historical complexities, conflicts between cultures, and plot twists leads to a satisfying conclusion. Agent: Stephanie Cabot, Gernert Company.
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July 1, 2015
Part mystery, part exploration of a culture fading into history's shadows, Hart's novel is a fascinating, intelligent debut. In 1708 China, imperial librarian Li Du is banished from Beijing for innocently consorting with traitors. Now an itinerant scholar-"It is not my habit to remain long in any city"-Li has come upon Dayan in China's far southwest, where his cousin Tulishen is imperial magistrate. Li appears before Tulishen, as he's required to do, "to register my presence upon arrival in a new prefecture." Coincidentally, Emperor Kangxi is about to arrive in Dayan on a royal tour; with knowledge gleaned from Jesuit astronomers, he's planning to command an eclipse to appear in Dayan, a bit of theater meant to persuade restless citizens of his divinity. There will be a great festival, and foreigners such as Brother Pieter, a Jesuit scholar, and Sir Nicholas Gray, the English East India Company representative, will attend. Dayan becomes a pit of rivalries. Pieter's murdered. Tulishen, ambitious for office in the Forbidden City and fearing embarrassment, demands Li find the killer. Hart has written an intriguing mystery but it's the deft interweaving of Chinese culture-poetry, art, and even tea-into the tale that adds depth. Hart's language regularly delights-a servant girl's "makeup gave her face a hard, kiln-fired delicacy"; the East India Company "whined at the door like a hungry dog, a frustrated brute who smelled meat but could not reach it." Hart tosses in tidbits about Ming and Qing rivalries and worries over Tibet's Kham people while lacing the mystery with sleight-of-hand misdirections. Li finds the murderer and wanders off once more with another outlier, Hamza, a "storyteller who spins dark tales, who associates with bandit caravans," characters worthy of a sequel. Think Agatha Christie writing Shogun-Hart's captivating debut has solid cross-genre appeal.COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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August 1, 2015
Disgraced librarian Li Du arrives in the remote southern city of Dayan at an inauspicious time: the emperor's visit is scheduled in a few daysthe emperor who exiled him. When the magistrate's Jesuit guest is poisoned, the culprit, any culprit, must be quickly found and executed, to prevent embarrassment. Hart's well-researched mystery debut is set in early eighteenth-century China, amid the bustle of urgent preparations for the emperor's arrival and sly machinations of people jostling for position and a chance to see their divine ruler. Li Du considers leaving but cannot resist the urge to investigate the murder and possibly restore his good name. Decorated with a careful attention to detail, this old-fashioned mystery suits its setting in atmosphere and pacing, drawing the reader into an exotic territory. Arriving at the very last moment, the puzzle's solution, while not surprising, provides a fitting closure to the first in a series sure to please fans of Laura Joh Rowland's Sano Ichiro mysteries, set in Japan, and those who enjoyed the magical Malaysian setting of Tan Twan Eng's Garden of Evening Mists.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)
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August 1, 2015
This riveting story of 18th-century Imperial China marks a promising start for first novelist Hart. Disgraced librarian Li Du lives as a wandering scholar after being exiled for associating with enemies of the emperor. On one of his many travels he passes through the town of Dayan and is required to report to his cousin Tulishen, the local magistrate. His visit coincides with a major festival honoring the emperor and his divine ability to predict eclipses. As Dayan prepares to receive the royal entourage, a visiting Jesuit astronomer is found murdered, and Li Du becomes involved in uncovering the killer. Matters are complicated by a fraught political and cultural environment that makes it difficult to investigate. There are plenty of false clues and gratifying twists before things are wrapped up satisfyingly. Excellent writing and the charming stories of traveling storyteller Hamza further elevate this novel above the typical historical suspense. VERDICT The mix of history, thriller, and layers of storytelling make for a complex and rewarding novel that deserves a wide readership. A fine debut for an author with more books, one hopes, to come. [See Prepub Alert, 3/23/15.]--Liz Kirchhoff, Barrington Area Lib., IL
Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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April 15, 2015
The Minotaur folks are all abuzz about this debut featuring Li Du, once one of China's esteemed imperial librarians but now exiled to Dayan on the Tibetan border. When he arrives, he practically trips over all the wayfarers, soldiers, and merchants swarming the town in anticipation of an eclipse of the sun apparently ordered by the emperor. Soon he's investigating the murder of a Jesuit astronomer, blamed on Tibetan marauders.
Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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November 30, 2015
Actor Shih adds little excitement and emotional resonance in his reading of Hart’s debut mystery set on the border of China and Tibet in 1708. The voices of the main characters—the librarian cum detective, the ambitious magistrate, the imaginative storyteller, the scholarly Jesuit, the evil British merchant—are often indistinguishable, and the several gravelly-voiced elderly village men, who provide comic relief and historic details, sound alike and sometimes over-the-top. Chinese history is sometimes stuck into the narrative in too-big chunks, but Hart’s clever plot contains enough twists and turns to hook listeners, and Detective Li Du is an engaging character likely to return in sequels—even though the audio edition adds little enjoyment to the book. A Minotaur hardcover.
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On the mountainous border of China and Tibet in 1708, a detective must learn what a killer already knows: that empires rise and fall on the strength of the stories they tell.
Li Du was an imperial librarian. Now he is an exile. Arriving in Dayan, the last Chinese town before the Tibetan border, he is surprised to find it teeming with travelers, soldiers, and merchants. All have come for a spectacle unprecedented in this remote province: an eclipse of the sun commanded by the Emperor himself.
When a Jesuit astronomer is found murdered in the home of the local magistrate, blame is hastily placed on Tibetan bandits. But Li Du suspects this was no random killing. Everyone has secrets: the ambitious magistrate, the powerful consort, the bitter servant, the irreproachable secretary, the East India Company merchant, the nervous missionary, and the traveling storyteller who can't keep his own story straight.
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