Blue Dragon Spring

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A well-written “murder/mystery”, set, largely, in Hong Kong, with many local references, including the now demolished “Walled City”. In the world before texting and mobile phones, these events could happen.

Hong Kong enters 1980 in a restless mood. As China’s doors open to foreign investment, Hong Kong’s manufacturing base declines and the number of illegal immigrants continues to grow. Britain’s lease of the Hong Kong New Territories will expire on 30 June 1997. Confidence in Hong Kong’s future is already affected by speculation about the handover to China that this may trigger. Many Hong Kong nationals depart to live overseas./In January, the illegitimate son of Hong Kong’s most powerful gangster, who is also the nephew of tycoon Yip Yee Koon, abandons his role as leader of the Wo Luen Shing Triad and returns to England where he was educated. Tony Smith’s departure unleashes family secrets which almost decimate the Yip empire. At the same time, other criminal groups in the infamous Kowloon Walled City use his exit to seize power. 

A month or so later, Pearl Green, in her role as Director of the Hong Kong-based June Bowen Foundation, is in England to attend a conference. In London’s Soho, she witnesses a worrying incident. After hearing her account, her father, London-based James Gates, links the matter to a Hong Kong source and travels out unexpectedly. On the plane, James encounters a beautiful Eurasian woman, and sees she is wearing Tony Smith’s distinctive dragon sapphire ring, worn only by the leader of the Wo Luen Shing.—Smith must be dead.— James is appalled by this overt display of power. He assigns his men on the ground in Hong Kong—Peter Benson, and Yip Yee Koon’s very flappable chauffeur, Hua Leung—to follow the woman with the blue dragon ring. What can they discover about her plans for contributing to the palpable restlessness abroad in Hong Kong in the opening months of this new decade?