The misogyny -- it burns.

Really. And so does the racism. Even more than the average mid-century American mystery offering. There are three attractive young women whom the protagonist Terry Clane could have for the asking (overdoing it much, Mr Gardner?). Towards the end of this book, Sou Ha disclaims any expectations of Clane because "You are not of my race" and in her inscrutable fashion attempts to confess to a murder she did not commit in order to protect the woman he loves... whoever that is. Alma, the gifted artist with whom he has a history, comes up with a long speech about how they loved each other before Clane left for China but she has changed, her husband died and she concentrated on her art, and now she is famous but (presumably due to her career and fame) unfit for marriage or motherhood (Queen Elizabeth II didn't get that memo, good for her) and he should marry her sister instead, she knows he wants to. If he really wants to marry Cynthia (and the last scene in the book is fairly explicit about his interest), he's as much of a vapid fool as the drunken little bimbo herself. Fit for marriage and motherhood without a particle of unselfishness or maturity in her whole makeup. Right.

Interestingly, the author (and his representative Clane) is fairly well conversant with Cantonese, although saying that mmm represents "no" is linguistically indefensible in my opinion; it's a negator but cannot stand alone. Bimbo Cynthia giggles that Chinese girls can say "no" without opening their mouth (they can't, but Clane doesn't correct her; she probably wouldn't be listening anyway). Sou Ha's name means, we are told repeatedly, Embroidered Halo, but I wonder if the author somehow confused Hallo and Halo when searching the Chinese/English dictionary, because I personally would expect halo or nimbus to be represented by the character guang -- gong in Cantonese --, whereas ha can stand for "Hallo"... but it's hard to say because of the number of homonymous characters in Chinese. These are the kind of things that bother a linguistics geek.

Also, I want to join the Detective Book Club and get 9 great mysteries, in hardcover, for $1. There's a card to send away for this great deal bound into the middle of my pocket book. ( )