No Way to Die: A Ming Dynasty Mystery
Historical Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Drum Tower Press, LLC (April 18, 2019)
Paperback: 210 pages

Synopsis

Through mystery and intrigue, No Way To Die transports the reader into the complex and engaging world of early Ming China.

When a peddler finds a partially mutilated body of a stranger, the unlikely duo of a young scholar and a local women’s doctor once more join forces to discover who killed him and why. In probing the highly gendered world of early Ming China, unanticipated questions surface, complicating their investigation.

As their case rapidly transitions into the unexpected, they find all roads leading away from the victim, forcing them to consider alternate routes. Was the death the result of inexorable bad karma and beyond their purview, or merely the result of mortal foul play? Was the murdered man the intended victim? If not, who was and why? The investigation leads to a growing list of potential suspects: a lustful herbalist, an unscrupulous neighbor, a vengeful farmer, a jealous husband, a scorned wife, and a band of thieves. Who is innocent and who is the culprit? To solve the murder and bring peace to the victim’s spirit, the duo must untangle the truth and do it before the murderer strikes again.

Guest Post

My readers have asked why Shu-chang in the A Ming Dynasty Mystery series seems to be so concerned with taking the third national examination. After all, as a young man, he seems to be doing alright. He’s teaching at a small school and is respected by the people in the town. Isn’t that enough?

Here’s why Shu-chang isn’t satisfied:  No Way to Die, A Ming Dynasty Mystery, the second in the series, is a historical novel set in late 14^th century Imperial China. For hundreds of years before that and even through to the modern period, China was what we call a meritocracy. That is, in spite of being ruled by an emperor, men achieved power and wealth through their own abilities, not through birth. In order to get the best and brightest to work for the government, the emperors set up a three-tiered examination system. Whoever passed each examination level received recognition and special privileges from the emperor. Everyone who passed the third level received the most significant privileges. For example, they were relieved of paying taxes on their family farms and other properties. They also had special status and protections where the law, even criminal law, was concerned. Anyone who passed the examinations was automatically considered among the local elite and treated as local leaders. Finally, the gold ring was reserved for those who passed within the top 5 to 10 percent or so of the third national examination. These men were automatically placed into government positions, such as magistrates of local districts. Their fortunes were all but guaranteed.

This examination system meant that even the poorest of men, if they were hard-working and bright, could become powerful and gain great wealth. In A Ming Dynasty Mystery series, Shu-chang is a young man of a poor, peasant family. His father and uncle sacrificed everything so he could study. He wasn’t expected to do any work on the farm. His father’s dream was for Shu-chang to pass the third examination and achieve fame for the family. In Deadly Relations, the first book in the series, Shu-chang had just taken the second examination when he found out that his father and uncle were murdered by a criminal gang who had attacked their small village. Destitute and with no support, he takes a job teaching in a small clan school in a nearby town. There he joins his maternal cousin, the local women’s doctor, in solving crimes plaguing the town. His crime fighting continues into No Way to Die.

While successfully assisting the community in achieving justice, Shu-chang is plagued by the thought of not being a filial son. Of not accomplishing the two things necessary for him to honor, respect, and achieve justice for his father and uncle: to hunt down their murderers and to achieve his father’s dream of his raising the family out of poverty by passing the third national examination. No matter how successful he is at helping his community and achieving justice for others, without succeeding in these two goals for his own family, he is a failure.

About the Author

P.A. De Voe is an anthropologist with a PhD in Asian studies and a specialty in China. She has authored several stories featuring the early Ming Dynasty: The Mei-hua Trilogy: Hidden, Warned, and Trapped; the A Ming Dynasty Mystery series with Deadly Relations and No Way to Die; Lotus Shoes, a Mei-hua short story; and a collection of short stories: Judge Lu’s Case Files, stories of Crime & Mystery in Imperial China. Warned won a Silver Falchion Award for Best International Mystery; Trapped was a finalist for an Agatha Award and for a Silver Falchion Award. Her short story, The Immortality Mushroom, (a Judge Lu story) was in the Anthony Award-winning anthology Murder Under the Oaks edited by Art Taylor.

Website * Facebook * Twitter * GoodReads

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway