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| Plot Summary of The Lake Ching Murders |
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"Four and a half years ago, Zhong Fong headed up the Special Investigations, Shanghai District. He fell from grace convicted as a political felon and spent two years in Prison. Upon release from the detention facility, Zhong was exiled beyond the Wall where he serves as a police officer in a village. Zhong is unable to step beyond the two-mile perimeter of the village and has no access to phones or computers. Instead, his only outside communication is receiving telegrams though he is not allowed to reply. Except for his hidden works of Shakespeare (stained with urine) that serves as his only reminder of his beloved deceased wife, Zhong is alone shunned by all as befitting a traitor.
A politico and a thug abduct Zhong. Though they obviously need his help, they abuse him as suiting his station in life. Soon Zhong meets Captain Chen and learns that they want the sleuth to investigate the murders of seventeen foreigners on Lake Ching. As Zhong leads the inquiries, he knows that his own life is forfeit if he fails to uncover what happened.
THE LAKE CHING MURDERS is an appealing unique police procedural that focuses on law enforcement in a land where political expediency supersedes justice. The who-done-it takes a back seat to the fascinating insight into modern day China through the characters. Zhong is a wonderful lead protagonist and the support cast augments the tale by their varying behavior toward the hero and his fall from grace status. David Rotenberg provides the audience with a fine who-done-it enhanced by a deep character study.
Harriet Klausner
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Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar
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"Zhong Fong, convicted killer and former head of Special Investigations in Shanghai, had been exiled to an impoverished area beyond the Great Wall. After years with no communications allowed, he receives a warning telegram from a former colleague in Shanghai. Then he is picked up, brutalised and thrown into the trunk of a car by two equally viscious men: one a thugish lump of a man, one a cruel politico.
Although he is continuously tortured, infected with typhoid and cruelly beaten, it becomes clear to him (because they do not attempt to kill him) that he is "needed" for some purpose.
He finds out that the Chinese government wants him to use his investigative skills to solve an unusually hideous crime that involves the murder of 17 foreigners during a celebration on a "slut" boat on Lake Ching. By solving the murders, Fong can earn his way back from exile and back to his beloved Shanghai.
Demanding and getting his two former helpers from Shanghai: Lily a forensics expert and "Grandpa" a coroner; he sets about questioning the three brothers, inhabitants of a very inbred group of people from an island in the middle of Lake Ching, who have been accused of the crime.
Fong suspects that the killings were arranged by someone in a powerful political office in Beijing and that he has been brought up, not to find the killers, but to find the "rogue" polititian who ordered the murders. But the gruesome nature of the crime speaks of a horrid vengeance.
He finds an old cormorant fisherman who relates a tale of romantic intrigue and archaeological treasures involving a beautiful young girl from the island. Slowly he pieces together a story of infidelity and money lust which caused a convergence of motives.
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Mildred Diamant, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of The Lake Ching Murders |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 30%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 10%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%
Tone of story
- depressing/sad
How difficult to spot villain?
- Difficult, but some clues given
Time/era of story:
- present (2000-2010)
What % of story relates directly
to the mystery, not the subplot?
- 80%
Misc. Murder Plotlets
- Big focus on forensic evidence
Kind of investigator
- police procedural, Foreign
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot?
- politics
Crime Thriller
Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown)
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- government investigator
- police/lawman
Age:
- 40's-50's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
How much violence does he/she use?
- none
- a little
Ethnicity/Race
- Chinese
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
- an organization
Age:
- 20's-30's
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- politician/elected ruler
- farmer
Eccentric:
Yes
- mentally ill
- emotionally unstable
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a little/some
- a moderate amount
Motive of antagonist
- power
- insanity
The antagonists are:
- evil politicians
- Chinese
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- very athletic
Setting
Asia/Pacific
Yes
Asian country:
- China
City?
Yes
Style
Part of a series?
Yes
Person
- mostly 1st
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
- very gorey descriptions deaths/dead bodies
How many deaths?
- 8 or more
Sex
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references
- actual description of sex
Unusual forms of death
- hanging
- decapitated
- perforation--bullets
- perforation--swords/knives
Unusual form of death?
Yes
Amount of dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
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David Rotenberg Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 Mildred Diamant
SCHOLARS:
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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