A Drop of Chinese Blood

James Church's Inspector O novels have been hailed as crackling good ( The Washington Post ) and tremendously clever ( Tampa Tribune ), while Church himself has been embraced by critics as the equal of le Carre ( Publishers Weekly , starred). Now Church - a former Western intelligence officer who pulls back the curtain on the hidden world of North Korea in a way that no one else can - comes roaring back with an unputdownable new series featuring Inspector O's nephew, Bing, the director of state security in a region in northeast China bordering North Korea. When clues point to a connection between a beautiful woman's disappearance and Bing's sensitive assignment to bring an agent across the North Korean border, O reluctantly helps him navigate an increasingly complex and deadly maze. James Church has crafted a story with beautifully spare prose and layered descriptions of a country and a people he knows by heart.