New-World China meets Old-World Italy, as Ava investigates the dark side of the glamourous world of fashion in the latest installment of the Ava Lee Novels.

Ava attends London Fashion Week for the launch of the PÖ fashion line, one of the major investments she and her partners in the Three Sisters — May Ling Wong and Amanda Yee — have made over the past year. The show is a success, but perhaps too much of one. It attracts the attention of Dominic Ventola, the principal partner in the luxury fashion conglomerate VLG. When VLG offers to buy the Three Sisters’ stake in the company, Ava and her partners decline. A few days later, PÖ comes under attack in the fashion media and a large part of their customer base begins to abandon them.

With the help of Xu, Ava uncovers the dark and complex dynamics between East and West in the global fashion industry, eventually leading to a confrontation between two of the world’s biggest crime syndicates.

Ian Hamilton is the author of seven novels in the Ava Lee series: The Dragon Head of Hong Kong: The Ava Lee Prequel, The Water Rat of Wanchai, The Disciple of Las Vegas, The Wild Beasts of Wuhan, The Red Pole of Macau, The Scottish Banker of Surabaya, and The Two Sisters of Borneo. The Water Rat of Wanchai was the winner of the Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel, an Amazon.ca Top 100 Book of the Year, an Amazon.ca Top 100 Editors’ Pick, an Amazon.ca Canadian Pick, an Amazon.ca Mysteries and Thrillers Pick, a Toronto Star Top 5 Fiction Book of the Year, and a Quill & Quire Top 5 Fiction Book of the Year.

Ian Hamilton's profile page

GRACE LYNN KUNG is a Canadian Screen Award nominee for Best Performance by a Lead Actress in a Comedy for the spy series InSecurity. Her other credits include: fighting in a resistance in HBO's reimagining of Fahrenheit 451, lobbying with Jessica Chastain in Miss Sloane, inciting violence aboard Star Trek Discovery, aiding and abetting in Mary Kills People, shaking down Congress in Designated Survivor, cultivating Mars in The Expanse, facing down Chucky in Cult of Chucky, crying profusely in Slings & Arrows, and running a speakeasy in Frankie Drake Mysteries. Grace has also performed The Vagina Monologues in Oranjestad, Aruba, and toured nationally with Kim's Convenience. She is the model for a character in The Doozers and, if you've played Far Cry 4, she's yelled at you. Her directorial debut, A False Sense of Security, won Special Jury Mention at the Asian Film Festival of Dallas.

In addition to acting, Grace has studied naturopathic medicine in the UK and holds two Certificates of Distinction for Speech and Drama from Trinity College London.

Grace Lynn Kung's profile page

[A]n award-winning series that absorbs intriguing aspects of both Asian and Canadian cultures

The London Free Press

The pleasure in following Ava’s clever plans for countering the bad guys remains as ever a persuasive attraction.

Toronto Star

This book, like all the Ava Lee novels, is pure fun.

Publishers Weekly

In Ava Lee, Ian Hamilton has created a crime fighter who breaks the mould with every new book (and, frankly, with every new chapter).

CBC Books