The Water Rat of Wanchai

March 10, 2014
American fans of Ava Lee, a Toronto-based forensic accountant who specializes in finding and recovering missing money, will welcome Hamilton’s first in the series, whose publication in the U.S. follows that of the fourth entry, 2013’s The Red Pole of Macau. When her Chinese business partner, Uncle, asks her to help a friend’s nephew, who has lost $5 million to an unscrupulous seafood distributor, Ava embarks on a multicountry quest to track the funds. She travels to Hong Kong, where the deal originated, then follows the money trail to Bangkok and Georgetown, Guyana. In the seedy South American capital, she bribes Captain Robbins—the de facto power behind the government, military, law enforcement, and the criminal underworld—to help her reclaim the money from Jackson Seto, who masterminded the seafood scam. Despite a somewhat anticlimactic ending, this is an enjoyable romp with a feisty, ingenious heroine whose lethal martial arts skills are as formidable as her keen mind. Agent: Gillian Fizet, House of Anansi (Canada).