In the autumn of the 20th year of the Republic of China, thin raindrops fell in the Shanghai Public Settlement. Lin Shen pushed down his black top hat, and the chain of his brass pocket watch flashed a dark light outside his vest pocket. The siren of the patrol house in the French Concession penetrated the sycamore leaves and tore into the humid silence at the corner of Maggie Road.
"The deceased was female, about twenty-five years old." The forensic doctor wearing gold-rimmed glasses inserted the tweezers into the corpse's mouth. "The hyoid bone is intact, but there are three parallel bruises on the back of the neck." When the white cloth was lifted, Lin Shen smelled the scent of tuberose mixed with the smell of blood. The female corpse was wearing a moon-white Hangzhou silk cheongsam, but the buckle was crooked. The sapphire bracelet on her left wrist glowed coldly under the searchlight.
