In Beijing, Mei Lang loses her prestigious job at the
Ministry for Public Safety because she cannot conform to the
rules and edicts of her superiors. Her mother is unable to
forgive her for failing again and continues to compare her
to her successful sister. Mei's tangled relationship with
her mother deteriorates as Mei decides to capitalize on her
ability to solve problems and opens the first private
investigating office in China.
Mei's first client is Uncle Chen, who asks her to locate a
valuable Han Dynasty jade stolen during the Cultural
Revolution by Red Guards sweeping away the past. As Mei
investigates the jade's past, she exposes China's troubling
history and its effect on the destruction of her family. Mei
learns that with each past political tide in China, her
parents adapted -- and she discovers some disturbing truths
about her mother.
Diane Wei Liang's insight into the Chinese culture as she
combines it with the universal problems of family and
personal relationships makes this an exceptional read. She
draws readers into the culture, engages our interest and
curiosity while she creates a chilling depiction of Chinese
life as Mei solves the mystery in a well-executed plot with
a surprising conclusion.
This review is from the hardback edition.
"Having her own detective agency would
give her the independence she had always longed for.
It would also give her the chance to show those
people who shunned her that she could be successful.
People were getting rich. They owned property,
money, business, and cars. With new freedom and
opportunities came new crimes. There would be much
that she could do."
Present day, Beijing.
Mei Wang is a modern, independent woman. She has her own
apartment. She owns a car. She has her own business with
that most modern of commodities -- a male secretary. Her
short career with China's prestigious Ministry for Public
Security has given her intimate insight into the complicated
and arbitrary world of Beijing's law enforcement. But it is
her intuition, curiosity, and her uncanny knack for
listening to things said -- and unsaid -- that make Mei
Beijing's first successful female private
investigator.
Mei is no stranger to the dark side of
China. She was six years old when she last saw her father
behind the wire fence of one of Mao's remote labor camps.
Perhaps as a result, Mei eschews the power plays and
cultural mores -- guanxi -- her sister and mother
live by...for better and for worse.
Mei's family friend
"Uncle" Chen hires her to find a Han dynasty jade of great
value: he believes the piece was looted from the Luoyang
Museum during the Cultural Revolution -- when the Red Guards
swarmed the streets, destroying so many traces of the past
-- and that it's currently for sale on the black market. The
hunt for the eye of jade leads Mei through banquet halls and
back alleys, seedy gambling dens and cheap noodle bars near
the Forbidden City. Given the jade's provenance and its
journey, Mei knows to treat the investigation as a most
delicate matter; she cannot know, however, that this case
will force her to delve not only into China's brutal
history, but also into her family's dark secrets and into
her own tragic separation from the man she loved in equal
parts.
The first novel in an exhilarating new detective
series, The Eye of Jade is both a thrilling mystery
and a sensual and fascinating journey through modern China.