The Murder of Mr. Ma

Netgalley read.

For fans of Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes, London, 1920's, swashbuckling, two Chinese investigators trying to find a killer going after Chinese immigrates with a sword. Sounds freaking perfect.

It starts out great with the narrator being approached with an odd request, a prison break. The blurb and the beginning are good but then things slows down. Not much of a mystery, more action and or main character the academic Lao She is often sidelined and retells part of the story to us after he has been told the story... why not have us in the mids of the action?

Spring Heeled Jack in a nice spice in the story and I couldn't help thinking of Bruce Lee in “The Green Hornet” but the idea of Bruce Lee fighting crime in 1920's London is a lot better than whatever this was.

Didn't care for the characters and then there were more bible quotes than I cared for.

3.5 If you are a fan of Sherlock Holmes and all the modern adaptations, this is a good twist on the series. I think my favorite part though was the definitely all the little details about Chinese life and the atmosphere of London at the time this was taking place. For anyone familiar with the influence of opium on China during this time and England's role in that will appreciate the weaving of it into this story.

I did find the action scenes a bit hard to follow on audio, which is why I'm rounding down my rating, but it's a solid mystery and I would certainly be willing to pick up book 2 in the series and give it a shot.

***Thank you to RB Media for providing me with the Audiobook for free via NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.