A very solid Moto - some say its the best in the series in part because of some evocative writing describing Peking in the mid 30s. This is very good, and there's some very well done action scenes too - you wish there was more of these instead of the more philosophical chat stuff. (This seems to happen with thriller writers - they're good at action but can't resist characters waffling on.)
The hero is a new American, a guy living in Peking, who gets caught up in a racket of selling Chinese artefacts, run by a British major who is killed. Structurally it follows the first book in the series - American caught up in conspiracy, mystery girl, an early murder, Mr Moto popping in an out, support cast of orientals. The lead character is less interesting here because he starts out good and is always basically good. Moto is more sympathetic, working for the dove faction in Japanese politics, against an agent who works for the hawk faction. Still a good book.
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