Fogbound Tianjin: Case Files of the Republican Era

Xu Qingyang, chief constable of Jinmen, is nicknamed “The Living Yama” for his knack for cracking cases involving the underworld. A meat filling made from human flesh is discovered at a bun shop in the west of the city. The owner kneels and protests: “I swear, the meat I bought last night was pork!” Xu Qingyang pinches up a bone fragment and sneers. “Pork from Tianjin can’t grow the gears of a British pocket watch.” The head of the Green Dragon Gang is found dead in a theater, his body unmarked save for a red dot on his throat. An actress shrieks, “Just yesterday, he said he was going to buy me a Western-style mansion…” As a string of cases unfolds, coded slang flies through the city. Xu Qingyang squints over his pipe. “All you lowlifes and layabouts, listen up…” “Keep stirring up trouble, and I’ll soak all your secrets in the Hai River and feed them to the turtles.” Before he can finish, a secret report arrives from the governor’s office: the priest at the Zizhulin Church has vanished from the confessional.