Bone Reading and Evil Divination: A Republic-Era Ghost Detective Casebook

In the tumultuous years of the Republic, bizarre cases abound.

A woman’s corpse lies in the City God Temple, with an untold secret hidden between her bones. The Zhang residence’s red coffin holds shattered bones, while a curse and its mysteries haunt the wealthy family. A famous performer from the Fengming troupe dies onstage, and the theft of the remains leads to a blood feud...

Shen Ci’an, Nanjing’s heir to the art of bone reading, examines bones with skilled hands to expose killers and see through the darkness in people’s hearts. Li Yancheng, a courageous patrol captain in Beiping, stands up for justice and vows to restore order. Their paths cross through a case, and together they use bones as evidence and the law as their blade.

Also on the scene is Su Qingyuan, a female reporter for the Shanghai Daily. Skilled in bone reading, she captures evidence with her camera and writes the truth in ink.

The three travel between Nanjing, Tianjin, Beiping, and Shanghai, solving the massacre of the Liu family, the Zhang family feng shui master’s curse of a poisonous oath, and the sinister power of a lost bone talisman.

Bone reading exposes killers, but it reveals more than clues: it lays bare the human heart!