The eighth novel in the Ava Lee series finds Ava caught in a labyrinth of high-level political corruption.

Ava is in Shanghai for the launch of the PÖ clothing line. She has invited Xu, and over the course of the glitzy event and a late-night dinner, she detects a certain hesitancy in him. He later confides that the Tsai family, headed by Tsai Lian, the governor of Jiangsu Province and a “princeling” — he is the son of a general who was on the Long March with Mao and a member of China’s power elite — is trying to force him and his triad organization back into the drug business. Xu is already paying millions of dollars a year to various Tsai businesses, but the family wants more and thinks the new venture can deliver it. Xu believes this move would lead to his eventual destruction and feels he has nowhere to turn. If he opposes them, they will crush him. If he goes along with them, he thinks that inevitably the police and military will hunt him down.

Ava sets out to help Xu deter the Tsai family. As she digs into the breadth and depth of the family’s wealth and corruption, she gets caught up in a huge tangled web, extending all the way to the U.S. and the U.K., where it reaches the top echelons of political power.

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

As usual with a Hamilton-Lee novel, matters take a decided twist as the plot unrolls

Owen Sound Sun Times

…like the best series writers – Ian Rankin and Peter Robinson come to mind – Hamilton manages to…keep the Ava Lee books fresh…a compulsive read, a page-turner of the old school…The Princeling of Nanjing is a welcome return of an old favourite, and bodes well for future books.

Quill and Quire

the reader is offered plenty of Ava in full flower as the Chinese-Canadian glamour puss who happens to be gay, whip smart and unafraid of whatever dangers come her way.

Toronto Star

[an] exotic thriller that also offers a fascinating inside look at fiscal misconduct in China...Hamilton’s heroine is one of a kind. Ava is gay, a diminutive five-foot-three, a ruthless martial-arts adversary, a brilliant forensic accountant and a woman whose own unique moral code sometimes has her operating on the fringes of the law - but only, we would like to believe, in order to deal with the really bad guys…As a unique character, she's become indispensable.

Calgary Herald

…one of those grip tight novels that makes one read “just one more chapter” and you discover it’s 3am. The novel is built on complicated webs artfully woven into clear, magnetic story-telling. Author Ian Hamilton delivers the intrigue within complex and relentless webs in high style and once again proves that everyone, once in their lives, needs an Ava Lee at their backs.

Canadian Mystery Reviews

The only thing scarier than being ripped off for a few million bucks is being the guy who took it and having Ava Lee on your tail. If Hamilton’s kick-ass forensic accountant has your number, it’s up.

Linwood Barclay

Ava is a wonderful character, smart, resourceful, and not afraid to kick ass, and you, sir, remain a top-drawer storyteller, and I devour each word you write. like countless others, cannot wait to see what happens with Ava next.

The Mind Reels

Hamilton uses his people and plot to examine Chinese class and power structures that open opportunities for massive depravities and corruptions

London Free Press

Ava Lee has a new business, a new look, and, most important, a new Triad boss to appreciate her particular financial talents….We know that Ava will come up with a plan and Hamilton will come up with a twist.

The Globe and Mail

…a terrific addition to the Ava Lee canon, a must read

CBC Home Run