The Three Sisters and Po's head to London to publicize the PÖ clothing line in a fashion show, and are approached by a luxury brand VLG, who wants to buy the company. When the offer is rebuked, VLG's flashy owner not only trashes the line, but bullies his customers into cancelling orders. Ava Lee heads back to Asia determined to have retribution and develops a brilliant counterstrategy to undermine VLG's local production and selling efforts. In fact, she is so successful that the silent investor in VLG contacts Ava's friends in the Triad to have her beaten or killed. Hamilton does his usual fine job of making you feel you're in Macau and Kong Kong along with his characters. ( )

I won this in a GOODREADS giveaway --The Couturier of Milan: The Triad Years (Paperback) by Ian Hamilton -- An excellent addition to to Ava Lee series! ( )

I always look forward to another of (Canadian) Ian Hamilton’s Ava Lee books. Ava, the Canadian Hong Kong Chinese, forensic accountant who went around the world, to lots of exciting places, described imaginatively, got involved in many differing types of businesses, and saved problems, not just with accounting methods but lots of very nasty kick-ass techniques. As in nasty and violent.

In the last book Ava wet into partnership with several other Chinese women, she’d befriended and helped previously, as the forensic accountant with extreme attitude, in the fashion business. Yawn!

So this book starts with a fashion show, another vacuous yawn, gets involved in a spiteful business dispute which is eventually solved not by her old-fashioned very stuff and really doesn’t go anywhere new and exciting. Also, a lot of stuff gets resolved involving others who help Ava in the most outrageous ways because - well - it’s for Ava. Huh?

Did I detect she might get back to her old ways late in the book or was that wishful thinking?

BORING.

This is another entertaining Ava Lee thriller which is set in some exotic locations, like Macau. It's a book that you will want to finish in one sitting. I found it tamer than some of the earlier books in the series; there's relatively little violence, though there's potential for a lot of it.
Ava continues with her transition from a "debt collector" to an entrepreneur and investor. There always seems to be someone who wants to block her progress, in this case an Italian fashion house. When things get rough Ava responds in kind, much to the annoyance of the Italians, especially because she and her partners are women.
On the personal side, Ava's relationships with Maria and the Chinese actress Fai are at their tipping points. Perhaps Ava will move away from Toronto if Maria is out of the picture, despite her mother living there.
It looks as if series is going to continue to the next episode which will be set in the Philippines. ( )

"The Couturier of Milan” is the 3rd of the Ava Lee novels with her major allies of the partners in Three Sisters Investments with Triad chairman Xu behind the scenes. It follows closely on from "The Princeling of Nanjing and somewhere there was a mention that the book time that has elapsed in this period of Ava’s life is only a year (whereas the 3 recent books have appeared over 3 years). So one up side is that Ava is not aging in real-time and there is certainly hope for several adventures yet to come. In fact a generous teaser chapter for the next book "The Imam of Tawi Tawi" is provided at the end of this current one which hints that the next adventure may be more of a solo one for Ava.

Ian Hamilton has not lost his touch in writing a compulsive thriller and though the world of international fashion may not immediately strike you as fodder for suspense fiction he creates a set-up for a compelling social media/advertising/shipping/production war between the villains (an Italian conglomerate in this case) and the fledgeling fashion house of PÖ which is funded by Ava & her allies.

I was slightly distracted by the possible symbolic meaning of Ava missing out on a bak mei martial arts lesson with her teacher Grandmaster Tang and the somewhat brief physical altercations in this book. Will Ava start slowing down in the years to come? Let us hope not! ( )