A Death in China

by Carl Hiaasen, William D. Montalbano

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Fiction. Thriller. HTML: *An American investigates a murder amid the secrecy and corruption of China in this crime thriller from the New York Times�??bestselling author of Razor Girl.* Art history professor Tom Stratton hasn't seen his former mentor David Wang for years�??until they unexpectedly run into each other while Stratton is on a guided tour of China. But the reunion doesn't last long. After Wang is found dead�??and the American embassy fumbles the investigation�??Stratton sets out to solve the mystery of the killing on his own. Before long, he's tangled in a web of corruption that reaches the highest seats of power. Beset by the suffocating secrecy and subterfuge of communist China, Stratton must find his friend's murderer�??before the fury of a brutal conspiracy closes in on him. Along with Powder Burn and Trap Line, this international mystery is one of the early suspense thrillers written by Carl Hiaasen and Bill Montalbano, a writing team praised for their "fine flair for characters and settings" (Library Journal… (more)

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Started out slow and was OK, but not as good as Trap Line. I just miss the humor and quirky characters of a normal Hiaasen book. (

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AliceAnna | Oct 15, 2014 |

A sometimes vivid, but ultimately pedestrian story of an art history professor and former special forces soldier, Tom Stratton, who travels to China as a tourist. He meets his old professor and mentor, David Wang, who has returned to China at his brother’s bequest. The brother is a cultural official with bad intent. When David Wang dies, Stratton suspects murder and a larger plot, and goes to great lengths to unravel it. (

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Hagelstein | Apr 30, 2012 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Carl Hiaasen	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Montalbano, William D.	—	main author	all editions	confirmed

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Notable Lists

Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection – 1984)

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1998-06

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Epigraph

In 221 B.C., China came to be ruled by the formidable Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi, whose dynasty was China's shortest, but arguably its most important. It was Qin who unified the feudal country. He built a road system, organized a central government, standardized Chinese language and coinage, and it was he who ordered construction of the Great Wall. Qin's hope for china's future was tied to a belief in his own immortality; to achieve that end, he was both ingenious and brutal, and when he finally died, he was interred in a giant tumulus near his capital of Changan, now the modern city of Xian. In the last decade, no archaeological dig has aroused more world interest than that involving the tomb of Qin Shi Huandgi, the Son of Heaven...
--From a lecture by Dr David Wang, St Edward's College, Ohio

Dedication

For Daniel Joseph Montalbano and Carl Andreas Hiaasen

First words

"Where is Confucius?" the emperor demanded.

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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

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Sterba, James P

Bernstein, Richard

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▾Book descriptions

Fiction. Thriller. HTML:

An American investigates a murder amid the secrecy and corruption of China in this crime thriller from the New York Times�??bestselling author of Razor Girl.

Art history professor Tom Stratton hasn't seen his former mentor David Wang for years�??until they unexpectedly run into each other while Stratton is on a guided tour of China. But the reunion doesn't last long. After Wang is found dead�??and the American embassy fumbles the investigation�??Stratton sets out to solve the mystery of the killing on his own.

Before long, he's tangled in a web of corruption that reaches the highest seats of power. Beset by the suffocating secrecy and subterfuge of communist China, Stratton must find his friend's murderer�??before the fury of a brutal conspiracy closes in on him.

Along with Powder Burn and Trap Line, this international mystery is one of the early suspense thrillers written by Carl Hiaasen and Bill Montalbano, a writing team praised for their "fine flair for characters and settings" (Library Journal

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