🏮 Jade Dragon Mountain is Elsa Hart's debut historical mystery novel, set in Dayan, a small mountainous town at the Chinese border with Tibet, in 18th century. Our sleuth is Li Du, an imperial librarian in exile, who is visiting his cousin, who were the magistrate of Dayan, during his journey. Dayan was an insignificant town in the vast empire, but at present it's proudly preparing for the upcoming visit of the Emperor himself, as a total solar eclipse would occur in several days.
🏮 Chinese people at that time believed that the Emperor himself was able to command an astronomical event such as solar eclipse. And it was paramount that his people would watch as the Emperor commanded the sun himself. Failed to do so, he would lose dignity and his people's trust in his divinity. It was going to be a grand spectacle, and the magistrate was dreaming to get promotion had the festival been succeeded. Unfortunately, a murder threatened to thwart the magistrate's plans. And it's up to Li Du to solve it before the Emperor's arrival, or else, his future, too, would equally be bleak.
🏮 The murdered victim was a foreigner, a Jesuit priest called Brother Peter. He died instantly after drinking his tea. The Jesuits had a big influence in the kingdom, as advisers of its Bureau of Astronomy. It was the Jesuits who created annual calendars of astronomical events. And that's how the Emperor actually knew when the next solar eclipse would happen, and timed his arrivals well to arrive in time with it.
🏮 Li Du's investigation revealed the intrigue, conspiracy, and politics inside the magistrate's mansion as well as within the kingdom. Who, among its present occupants, was the murderer? Was it the magistrate himself? Or his first consort, who's afraid to be left alone if the magistrate was to be promoted to Beijing? Could it be the fanatic nationalist of the magistrate's secretary, or the old librarian? Or was it a foreigner who poisoned Brother Peter? There're another Jesuit priest who's staying there, and an East India Company merchant with his fascinating astronomical instrument. One of them could have wanted to do harm.|
🏮 All in all, this was an exciting read. The plot was not very complicated, perhaps. I guessed the whodunnit quite easily. But the historical aspect, the rather long but vivid descriptive mention of the building interior, streets, and public places, made up for it's rather weak plot. The author succeeded in bringing us to the 18th century of China, and her researches were superb. Loved it!
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
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