Jade Dragon Mountain

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.

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.

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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.)

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.

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.

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.