Clouds of Mystery over Shanghai

Shanghai, 1932. This was a dazzling, bizarre metropolis, where the splendor of the old world mingled with the restless energy of the new. The waters of the Huangpu River reflected countless shadows and crimes. The city welcomed everything, yet devoured everything, too. At the heart of Shanghai lay the famous Nanjing Road. Neon lights flickered along both sides as crowds and rickshaws streamed through the bustling commercial district. Yet behind all that prosperity lurked secrets too dark to speak of. In one corner of the city, a murder that shocked all of Shanghai drew the police’s attention. The victim was a foreign businessman named Richard Hopkins, a British national in his thirties, tall and usually dressed in a sharply tailored suit. His body was found in a top-floor suite at the upscale Blue Sky Hotel. The door was locked from the inside, the windows were shut, and there were no signs of damage to either. The preliminary cause of death was poisoning.