Thief of Souls (Inspector Lu Fei Series, Bk. 1)

Police Inspector Lu Fei is assigned to a sleepy backwater town in northern China where almost nothing happens and the theft of a few chickens represents a major crime wave. That is, until a young woman is found dead, her organs removed and joss paper stuffed in her mouth. The CID in Beijing - headed by a rising political star - is on the case, but in an environment where prosperity and political stability are far more important than the murder of an insignificant village girl, the pressure is on to pin the crime on the first available suspect. In his search for the truth, Lu Fei is on his own.

As Lu digs deeper into the gruesome murder, he finds himself facing old enemies and creating new ones, running afoul of local Communist Party bosses and corrupt business interests especially after he links the murder to other unsolved homicides. But the closer he gets to the heart of the mystery, the more he puts himself and his loved ones in danger.