In Brian Klingborg's Thief of Souls, the brutal murder of a young
woman in a rural village in Northern China sends shockwaves all the way
to Beijing--but seemingly only Inspector Lu Fei, living in exile in the
small town, is interested in justice for the victim.
Lu Fei is a graduate of China's top police college but he's been
assigned to a sleepy backwater town in northern China, where almost
nothing happens and the theft of a few chickens represents a major crime
wave. That is until a young woman is found dead, her organs removed, and
joss paper stuffed in her mouth. The CID in Beijing--headed by a rising
political star--is on the case but in an increasingly authoritarian
China, prosperity and political stability are far more important than
solving the murder of an insignificant village girl. As such, the CID
head is interested in pinning the crime on the first available suspect
rather than wading into uncomfortable truths, leaving Lu Fei on his own.
As Lu digs deeper into the gruesome murder, he finds himself facing old
enemies and creating new ones in the form of local Communist Party
bosses and corrupt business interests. Despite these rising obstacles,
Lu remains determined to find the real killer, especially after he links
the murder to other unsolved homicides. But the closer he gets to the
heart of the mystery, the more he puts himself and his loved ones in
danger.
