The Absent One

Torrential rains cause a cemetery to flood, and two sets of bones are found in a single-person grave.

An examination confirms the identity of the other set of remains: Zhang Tao, who was named a major suspect in a string of rape and murder cases twenty-two years ago. The evidence never added up, however, and he was released. For a time, he even brazenly presented himself as a victim of false accusations.

Rumor has it he made a fortune elsewhere, yet here his bones lie.

I know how to deal with misfortune / how to survive bad news / blunt the edge of injustice / make up for God's absence., Wislawa Szymborska

Preorders are open in my collection for the long crime-investigation novel Steady.

The diving instructor, Shen Qin, asked without looking up, "Name? ID number?"

Chen Ni answered in order. "Chen Ni." He hadn't even gotten to his ID number yet.

Shen Qin tapped the desk and looked up. "Chen Ni? Did someone drown you? Do you think your instructor is dead?"

Chen Ni tossed his ID card onto the desk. "See for yourself."

Suddenly, a commotion broke out by the seaside...

In the chaos that day, Shen Qin lost her dog. Three years later, she found the dog thief, a man named Chen Ni.

So her dog wouldn't have to grow up in a single-parent household, she reluctantly agreed to be with him.

Really, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Years ago, when Shen Qin fired the first shot of her career, her fate had already been written.

Beautiful and bold, pretending to be vulnerable x six-pack abs, cunning and cold-blooded

Elite sniper and part-time criminal profiler x all-around crime investigation squad leader

Bodies in a raging sea, killers on a snowy night, a death in an otaku's home, and people going missing one after another aboard a high-seas cruise ship...

Does this world still sing the praises of silence?

Theme: Justice always prevails.