Murder Wears a Hidden Face
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- £11.99
Publisher Description
A diplomat’s murder draws heiress-turned-sleuth Prudence MacKenzie and former Pinkerton Geoffrey Hunter away from New York’s high society and into the dark heart of Chinatown . . .
MURDER WEARS A HIDDEN FACE
February 1891: New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is hosting an exhibition of Chinese art objects, timed to coincide with the arrival of a new Chinese cultural attaché, Lord Peng. Prudence and Geoffrey are invited to attend the opening ceremonies. But among the throng of dignitaries making their way through the galleries is one decidedly unwelcome and unexpected visitor—an assassin who stabs the attaché to death, then flees through Central Park.
As witnesses, Prudence and Geoffrey quickly become immersed in the case and join former New York detective Warren Lowry in investigating the murder. But there are complications. The Peng family will no longer enjoy diplomatic standing and is threatened by deportation and possible disgrace or execution in their homeland. Desperate to remain in the West, they flee into the labyrinth of Chinatown, enlisting the protection of a long-lost uncle, now the leader of one of the city’s most feared Tongs. But that alliance comes with a price; Peng’s son must become his uncle’s apprentice in crime, while his eldest daughter will be forced to marry a Tong leader she has never met.
With a killer still at large, bent on revenge for a long-ago injustice and determined to eliminate every member of the Peng family, Prudence and Geoffrey are plunged into the heart of a culture about which they know very little. Each foray into the narrow streets and alleyways of Chinatown could be their last.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
New York City's Chinatown in the late 19th century provides a fascinating backdrop for Simpson's outstanding eighth Gilded Age Mystery (after 2022's Death at the Falls). Attorney Prudence McKenzie and former Pinkerton detective Geoffrey Hunter join Manhattan's elite at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the February 1891 unveiling of an exhibition of Chinese artifacts to accompany the arrival in America of Chinese cultural attaché Lord Peng Tha Mah and his family. While the museum guests watch in shock, a man steps out of the crowd, stabs Lord Peng to death, and flees. McKenzie and Hunter are swiftly hired to investigate. Meanwhile, the Chinese government tries to force the Peng family to return home by revoking their diplomatic standing, though official communications make it clear that violence would await them back in China. McKenzie and Hunter help the Pengs escape into the anonymity of Chinatown—but the family is soon wrapped up in the neighborhood's criminal affairs while Tha Mah's killer remains at large. Simpson's historical research pays off in spades, resulting in a captivating depiction of the ethnic enclave that never distracts from the plot's high tension. By eschewing the expected focus on the Gilded Age's Robber Barons, this mystery takes readers on a fresh and exciting ride.
