Crane Cries Over Chang’an

New historical wuxia mystery, The Sword Across the Bright Moon, now open for submissions!

Jiang Li was orphaned and alone from a young age. Fortunately, Count Guang'an took her in as his adopted daughter, giving her a stable life.

She was peerlessly beautiful and skilled in medicine. By thirteen, she was famous throughout Chang'an. Later, the young Prince of Jiangling sought her hand in marriage, making her future as a prince's wife all but certain.

Then disaster struck in the year she turned fifteen.

A plague ravaged Chang'an. On New Year's Eve, the Crown Prince's eldest son died suddenly while ill. Count Guang'an Wei Jie, then serving as Chief Imperial Physician, had failed to save him and was thrown into prison overnight. Jiang Li never imagined that her truthful testimony would become the key to his conviction.

On the day the entire Wei family was sentenced to execution, Jiang Li was spared punishment for her act of “putting justice before family.” She was even granted an imperial marriage decree.

The nobles and commoners whom Count Guang'an had treated all called her ungrateful, cursing her to meet a miserable end, until she died in the great fire that consumed the Tower of Immortal Bliss for three days and nights.

…

Five years later, the Tower of Immortal Bliss was rebuilt. The unprincipled Jiang Li had been forgotten by the imperial capital, while Xue Ling, the long-missing eldest daughter of the Xue clan of Hedong, was found and brought back to Chang'an.

Xue Ling had been kidnapped as a child and later raised by a family of physicians from the martial world. Three years ago, she made a name for herself across the land by reviving the leader of the Fierce Blade Sect, who had been dead for seven days.

With strange cases occurring one after another in Chang'an, Xue Ling's skill in bringing the dead back to life could save the living or, if need be, perform autopsies and catch murderers. Beneath her good name and newfound wealth, she also sought justice: a life for a life, and blood for blood.

Three days after returning home, the General's Mansion was caught up in a murder case and faced disaster.

Two months after returning home, a military governor's crimes came to light, and his household was confiscated and exiled.

Six months after returning home, the Crown Prince's position was on the verge of being revoked…

Xue Ling watched as Chang'an descended into fear and chaos. She never expected someone to oppose her and threaten to expose her secret identity. That person was none other than Pei Yan, the celebrated paragon of the noble clans, famous throughout the imperial capital.

Xue Ling snapped, “You're Jiang Li's sworn enemy. What does that have to do with me, Xue Ling?!”

[Wronged Physician's Daughter from a Noble House x Paragon of the Clans with a Buddha's Face and a Devil's Heart]

1. Alternate setting, heroine changes her face, martial world setting, devoted couple, happy ending

2. Mystery and revenge, slow burn, neither lead is a flawless hero, anti-piracy measures in place

3. The author is not a medical professional. All medical details come from reference materials.

4. Synopsis captured on November 20, 2023

5.

My next novel, a martial-world mystery, The Sword Across the Bright Moon, is open for advance follows. Hope you'll add it to your list!

Synopsis:

(Martial world's notorious female puppeteer x ruthless hero-detective, the young leader of the Alliance)

In the twenty-third year of the Qianyuan era, Cheng Biyue, the martial world's greatest expert, conspired with the demonic cult and wreaked havoc among the orthodox sects, unleashing a catastrophe upon the martial world.

Fortunately, the Six Great Sects fought to the death, and righteousness ultimately triumphed over evil.

The demonic cult was defeated. The traitor Cheng Biyue murdered his master to steal a treasure and slaughtered his fellow martial artists. He was beheaded in public, and his bones were ground to dust, finally satisfying the martial world's hatred.

Four years later, the remnants of the demonic cult had been wiped out, and the martial world was flourishing.

Amid the lovely spring scenery, Xue Chan, a notorious woman known as the “Red-Robed Puppet Immortal,” appeared out of nowhere.

In her blazing red dress, she wielded silver threads and ghostly needles, turning the living into puppets. In a single day, she wiped out two sects, putting every martial arts school on high alert.

Later, everyone discovered three more terrifying things:

1. Though Xue Chan was “delicate and frail” and supposedly knew only puppetry, she was versed in the martial arts of a hundred schools, with scarcely a weakness to exploit.

2. At her side was a puppet swordsman with peerless sword skills. In white robes and with black hair, he looked remarkably like Xie Xuezhuo, the young leader of the martial arts alliance.

3. Look closely. Wasn't that damn well Xie Xuezhuo himself?!

The martial world: …How are we supposed to fight this?!!!!!!

1. Wuxia martial world, mystery and investigation, revenge and putting villains in their place, spies within the martial world, ensemble cast

2. Plot-focused, slow-burn romance, neither the main cast nor the leads are paragons of virtue, devoted couple, happy ending

3. Traditional low-fantasy wuxia, classic Chinese fair-play mysteries, deduction rooted in wuxia conventions. No court politics or fantasy. Some story arcs feature cult-like horror in the martial world.

My completed historical mystery novels, Cranes Crying Over the Jade Capital, The Coroner's Dazzling Case, and Records of the Washed Tassel, are available in my profile!

Theme: A healer's compassion relieves suffering; unraveling strange cases in Chang'an reveals good and evil.