Her entry begins:
Dune, by Frank HerbertAbout City of Ink, from the publisher:
I write historical mysteries, but I often turn to fantasy and science fiction for lessons on how to build worlds.
The more removed a setting is from contemporary reality, the more elucidation it needs to make it navigable for readers. There is added pressure on mysteries, which work best when readers are given a fair shot at guessing the solution. A reader can’t be expected to solve a puzzle without knowing the rules. What do the characters in this setting value? What do they fear? What choices are available to them?
Great writers of science fiction and fantasy are experts at embedding descriptions of unfamiliar settings into a story. I’d been intending to read Dune for years, knowing...[read on]
Following the enthralling 18th century Chinese mysteries Jade Dragon Mountain and White Mirror, comes the next Li Du adventure in City of Ink.Visit Elsa Hart's website.
Li Du was prepared to travel anywhere in the world except for one place: home. But to unravel the mystery that surrounds his mentor’s execution, that’s exactly where he must go.
Plunged into the painful memories and teeming streets of Beijing, Li Du obtains a humble clerkship that offers anonymity and access to the records he needs. He is beginning tomake progress when his search for answers buried in the past is interrupted by murder in the present.
The wife of a local factory owner is found dead, along with a man who appears to have been her lover, and the most likely suspect is the husband. But what Li Du’s superiors at the North Borough Office are willing to accept as a crime of passion strikes Li Du as something more calculated. As past and present intertwine, Li Du’s investigations reveal that many of Beijing’s residents — foreign and Chinese, artisan and official, scholar and soldier — have secrets they would kill to protect.
When the threats begin, Li Du must decide how much he is willing to sacrifice to discover the truth in a city bent on concealing it, a city where the stroke of a brush on paper can alter the past, change the future, prolong a life, or end one.
Writers Read: Elsa Hart.
--Marshal Zeringue
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