Sci Fi

Yellowthread Street #6

by William Marshall

During the annual science fiction festival in Hong Kong, Detective Chief Inspector Harry Feiffer must solve a bizarre series of murders by a killer known only as the Spaceman

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

202 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

William Marshall (or William Leonard Marshall) (born 1944, Australia) is an Australian author, best known for his Hong Kong-based "Yellowthread Street" mystery novels, some of which were used as the basis for a British TV series.

Reviews

[Vasha7 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of all Marshall's madcap, violently absurdist Hong Kong police stories, this may be one of the oddest. Completely lacking in logic and plausibility (especially the hyperbolic finale), but so what.

[Linda Chrisman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wish these were better known - they are hilarious & bittersweet & just crazy!

[Kathryn McCary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sixth of the Yellowthread Street mysteries. As always, frenetic and compelling, even when you just don't believe a word of it.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

William Marshall’s Sci-Fi isn’t sci-fi. It is an early eighties police procedural set in British Hong Kong. Influenced by Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct series, the cops from the Yellowthread Street station are a culturally mixed bag of oddballs that remind me of characters from MASH as much as they do McBain’s New Yorkers. Sci-Fi has a hilarious opening scene in which the station runs out of cells to put costumed miscreants from the All-Asia Science Fiction convention. There is a green blob with burglar tools, an enticing jar with a million dollars, and a spaceman in an asbestos suit with a flamethrower. Violence happens, and brains get teased.

[TheIron Paw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely not a mainstream mystery/police procedural. There may be a hole or two in the plot, but what the heck, I won't let that get in the way of enjoying a complicated and imaginative plot. The characters are the same as the other Yellowthread street novels, and remain just as quirky and, paradoxically, realistic. A superior read.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

(I own this in hardcover and also Kobo ebook.) Typical Marshall, with odd mysteries and eccentric characters. (The Green Slime constantly escaping his cell by picking the lock with wooden matches and knotted string is what I remember best about the book.) I enjoy mysteries set around media conventions, and this one is fun. With a layer of tragedy, as Marshall often did.

[Ronald Wilcox · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting premise and setting (science fiction convention at a hotel in Asia) but the story was very difficult (to me) to follow. May read another in the series but was not impressed this time. Have read good things about this author before though.