Joann sent a review of this book ... I want to get it! After sending a review she also found out when Paul French was going to speak on this book in Beijing and got a group of us tickets. Paul did a fantastic job of creating what Beijing in 1937 would have been like and how the investigation of Pamela Werner's murder was approached (he did all of this without giving too much away). This is based on a true unsolved case of a 19 year-old British girl who was brutally murdered January of 1937. There was a joint investigation by Col Han (Chinese) and DCI Denis (British) until the Japanese invaded in July of that year and the investigation was dropped. Pamela's father kept it up and ended up solving the murder though he was ignored. Visit the website! There is also an audio tour that Paul French has put together to retrace the places described in the book. Jo and I spent five hours one Saturday following the tour and I highly recommend it to anyone passing through Beijing. What is amazing is that so many hutongs have been demolished in Beijing and yet all three mentioned in the book still exist! Suzhou Hutong is probably the most interesting hutong I've seen. What a great overall package between the lecture, book and tour.