As 1936 gave way to 1937, the people of Peking waited nervously for the axe to fall. The encirclement by the Japanese army was tightening daily and troop skirmishes were on the rise. The Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek had fled south to Nanking, where some said he was ready to cut a deal with Tokyo and leave the people of Peking to their fate. In the opium dens of the notorious Badlands the partying was harder than usual, while the wealthy foreigners of the Legation Quarter were making the most of their final days of privilege. Each new day brought a racheting up of tension inside the city walls. On one of those walls, the ancient Tartar Wall, was a massive watchtower, built in the fifteenth century to keep out invaders. The locals believed the Fox Tower to be haunted at night by fox spirits that preyed upon innocent mortals. Then one bitterly cold January night, the body of an innocent mortal was dumped there. It belonged to English schoolgirl Pamela Werner, the daughter of a well-known Old China Hand and past British Consul. When the depraved nature of her murder became known, it was hard to fathom that any human could treat another in such a fashion. In a city more than usually prone to rumour and gossip, the killing of Pamela raised the panic to a whole new level. Midnight in Peking is an unputdownable true tale of murder and a gripping account of the end of an era.

About the Author

Paul French is the author of four works of Asian History - Carl Crow: A Tough Old China Hand, North Korea: The Paranoid Peninsula, One Billion Shoppers: Accessing Asia's Consuming Passions, and Through the Looking Glass: China's Foreign Journalists from the Opium Wars to Mao.

Reviews

Historian French (Through the Looking Glass: China's Foreign Journalists from Opium Wars to Mao) unravels a long-forgotten 1937 murder in this fascinating look at Peking (now Beijing) on the brink of Japanese occupation. The severely mutilated body of 19-year-old Pamela Werner-the adopted daughter of noted Sinologist and longtime Peking resident Edward Werner-was discovered, with many of her organs removed, near the border between the Badlands, a warren of alleyways full of brothels and opium dens, and the Legation Quarter, where Peking's foreign set resided in luxury. A case immediately fraught with tension was made even trickier when the local detective, Col. Han Shih-ching, was made to work alongside Scotland Yard-trained Richard Dennis, based in Tientsin. The investigation soon stalled: the actual scene of Pamela's murder could not be found, and leads fizzled out. As China's attention turned to the looming Japanese occupation, the case was deemed "unsolved." French painstakingly reconstructs the crime and depicts the suspects-using Werner's own independent research, conducted after authorities refused to reopen his daughter's case. Compelling evidence is coupled with a keen grasp of Chinese history in French's worthy account. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

In January 1937, the mutilated body of Pamela Werner was found on the outskirts of old Peking (Beijing). After an unsuccessful investigation into the slaughter of this 19-year-old English expatriate, the case was eventually closed and forgotten as World War II escalated in China. Now Shanghai-based business analyst and historian French (Through the Looking Glass: China's Foreign Journalists from Opium Wars to Mao) reopens the cold case and attempts to bring some justice to Pamela's memory in this skillfully told true-crime thriller. French writes a remarkably coherent narrative by stringing together details from official police reports, newspaper articles, interviews, and, perhaps most helpful, E.T.C. Werner's report from his personal investigation into his daughter's horrific murder. VERDICT Treating his subjects with expertise and compassion, French creates a riveting portrait of the complicated tensions that existed during wartime in a city on the brink of destruction. As he slowly unravels the clues, he reveals a crime more shocking than anyone had ever imagined. This is a difficult book to put down! Recommended for readers interested in detective novels, Chinese history, and everything in between.-Rebekah Wallin, Paris, France (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.