Qiantang Gazetteer: The Murder Case Files, Season One

Other people solve crimes with forensic science and medical examiners. I solve them by poring over the Hangzhou Gazetteer!

I’m Lu Xun. I’ve run a rubbing studio on Hefang Street in Hangzhou for twenty years, and I’m the fourth generation of a family devoted to local gazetteers.

My grandfather investigated a shadow-puppet mystery recorded in the gazetteer and was murdered when someone burned down his workshop. My father looked into the West Lake pleasure-boat case, drowned, and had his death covered up as an accident.

In 2024, a murder takes place on Hefang Street. The killer reproduces, down to the last detail, the methods of a Republican-era cold case recorded in the gazetteer, and leaves behind my father’s fountain pen, missing for thirty-seven years.

He exploits Hangzhou’s folk taboos to stage supernatural events, creating locked-room murders and perfect alibis, convinced his schemes are flawless.

He has no idea that I can recite a thousand years of Hangzhou gazetteer lore with my eyes closed!

He recreates an old case to kill, so I use ancient texts to turn the tables and solve it. He sets up a chain of murders, so I follow the hidden marks in the gazetteers and expose the Qiantang Water Guardians Pavilion, concealed for a thousand years.

Ten landmark murder cases across Hangzhou. Ten high-IQ battles of wits!

I’ll not only crack this perfect string of crimes, but also clear the names of two generations and avenge a century-old blood feud. Every crime hidden in ancient texts will be made to pay!

This novel is entirely fictional. Any resemblance is purely coincidental!