The Shanghai Bund Case Files

In 1927, the foreign concessions of Shanghai seethe with hidden currents, while strange rumors spread through the water towns of Jiangnan. A blood-red wedding dress hangs in an ancestral hall. A woman’s sobs drift from the riverbank at midnight. Rumors claim vengeful spirits are demanding lives, as one grisly murder after another unfolds beneath a supernatural guise. Su Yanqiu, a female forensic pathologist who returned from studying in France, trusts bodies and evidence. With a scalpel, she cuts through every truth the dead could not tell. Shen Yantong, the last master of Nuo rituals, knows the customs of the countryside inside out. He sees through the illusions of Nuo opera and the tricks of incense, medicine, and hidden mechanisms, exposing the “supernatural phenomena” that fill people with awe. One examines the dead, the other unravels the schemes. As Western forensic science and physical evidence collide with the strange deceptions of Jiangnan’s old customs, the two travel between ancient water towns and Shanghai’s bustling foreign concessions, solving a string of murders. There are no vengeful spirits wreaking havoc. These are all human tragedies born of greed and desire. [No romance, a pure crime-solving career story, standalone cases, no romantic plotline]