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Brian Klingborg
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Thief of Souls (Inspector Lu Fei Series, 1) Paperback – May 17, 2022

by Brian Klingborg (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars 483
Editors' pick Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
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In Brian Klingborg's Thief of Souls, the brutal murder of a young woman in a rural village in Northern China sends shockwaves all the way to Beijing―but seemingly only Inspector Lu Fei, living in exile in the small town, is interested in justice for the victim.

Lu Fei is a graduate of China’s top police college but he’s been 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 increasingly authoritarian China, prosperity and political stability are far more important than solving the murder of an insignificant village girl. As such, the CID head is interested in pinning the crime on the first available suspect rather than wading into uncomfortable truths, leaving Lu Fei on his own.

As Lu digs deeper into the gruesome murder, he finds himself facing old enemies and creating new ones in the form of local Communist Party bosses and corrupt business interests. Despite these rising obstacles, Lu remains determined to find the real killer, 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.

Previous page
  1. Book 1 of 3
    Inspector Lu Fei
  2. Print length
    304 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publication date
    May 17, 2022
  5. Dimensions
    5.4 x 0.76 x 8.2 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1250848164
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1250848161
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Klingborg’s crisp prose keeps the narrative on the boil all the way to a climax." --The Toronto Star

"Riveting." --Booklist

"This auspicious mystery begs for a sequel. Please let it be soon." --BookPage

"Engrossing and atmospheric, Thief of Souls, takes us through the dirty snow of a Chinese province in a hunt for a serial killer. Police investigator Lu Fei, quotes Confucius, understands the power of the past, and navigates corruption and back-handing among Chairman Mao’s descendents. An unmissable journey with a Confucian knight errant for the 21st century." --Cara Black

"A gruesome crime; a rural cop with a keen mind and a sense of his place in modern-day China―Thief of Souls is written with humor and insight, supplying from page one a plot that rolls steadily down the runway, constantly gaining speed the whole way until with a final burst of takeoff velocity, it takes you to a place you never thought you’d be." -- James Church, author of the Inspector O series

"Like Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko or Donna Leon's Commissario Guido Brunetti, Klingborg's Inspector Lu Fei is a determined investigator as well as a wonderful guide to a country and culture unfamiliar to most readers. Thief of Souls is a thrilling mystery and a delightful novel from beginning to end." --Barbara Nickless, author of the Sydney Parnell series

"With a compelling story, a rich, well-realized setting, and a thoroughly engaging protagonist, Thief of Souls delivers everything one could want in a crime novel - insight, thrills, and entertainment. This is not one to miss!" -- Robert K. Tanenbaum, New York Times bestselling author of Without Fear or Favor

"Brian Klingborg's Thief of Souls offers a wonderful view into the life of a rural town in the orbit of one of China's huge but secondary cities. Klingborg truly understands how Chinese bureaucracies work; at the same time he's a wizard at believable characters, compelling situations, and a propulsive plot. I'm already looking forward to the second book in this series." -- SJ Rozan, Edgar Award winner and best-selling author of Paper Son

"With a great protagonist, a unique setting, and a fast-paced story, Thief of Souls is everything a reader could want in a novel." -- Jack Du Brul, New York Times bestselling co-author of The Titanic Secret and author of The Lightning Stones

About the Author

BRIAN KLINGBORG has both a B.A. (University of California, Davis) and an M.A. (Harvard) in East Asian Studies and spent years living and working in Asia. He currently works in early childhood educational publishing and lives in New York City. Klingborg is also the author of Kill Devil Falls.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Minotaur (May 17, 2022)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1250848164
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250848161
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.4 x 0.76 x 8.2 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 out of 5 stars 483

About the author

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Brian Klingborg

Brian Klingborg

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Brian Klingborg is a graduate of Harvard's Regional Studies East Asia program, and spent many years living and working in Asia and Europe. In addition to his first novel, Kill Devil Falls, published in 2017, he's written widely on Chinese martial arts.

His second novel, Thief of Souls, will be published by Minotaur Books (St. Martin's Press) in March 2021.

He currently lives in New York City.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
483 global ratings
Unique Setting
3 Stars
Unique Setting
This is a fast-paced and straightforward serial killer thriller. Set in a remote village in Northern China, the main character is an inspector with the police, just below the chief after he was promoted away in exile from the nearest city, Harbin. Lu is an honorable and almost classic investigator, determined to find the truth when a local woman is brutally murdered.What really makes this book shine is the setting. Intended for Western audiences, Klingborn does a good job of mixing in the facts of society, the legal system and political policies without ever crossing the line into the dreaded "info-dump" territory. Plot-wise, I did guess the killer's identity a bit early on, so while nothing really surprised me, it was still satisfying to be proven correct. The romantic subplot hints at perhaps more to come in future installments, so this set-up works well here, too. I am definitely curious to see where the rest of the series will go. Some of the characters are more likable than others and overall, this is a solidly entertaining read. It's a bit gorier than a cozy mystery, but is overall rather simple and quick!
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Top reviews from the United States

Terry Crossman
5.0 out of 5 stars Genuine China mystery
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2023
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As someone who has lived in Beijing for 27 years and was a Chinese studies major at Penn in the 70's, I really appreciate the author's truly in depth knowledge and appreciation for how life works in China today. The corruption and management culture issues are just so familiar and then the knowledge of traditional folk religion and practices as they exist today.. just so well done. This was a fun read with lot's of small details that illustrate Dong Bei (North East China) life. The pacing was good, although it did feel a bit rushed towards the end. I recommend this book both as a good crime thriller and for its great insights into recent China.
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langleyd
4.0 out of 5 stars the characters really make this book
Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2023
Mystery/thriller is my favorite genre but I'd never read one set in China with Chinese characters. Guess what? It didn't make a difference. The crime was deadly, the police split between those working to catch the killer and those just trying to look good for their supervisors nd a killer determined not to get caught. All the elements readers find no matter where the book is set. The differences in some of the inetractions and some of the laws just made it a little easier for Brian Klingborg to surprise me at the reveal.
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Jonathan Miller
5.0 out of 5 stars good murder mystery with great characters
Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2022
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This is a very enjoyable read. I totally loved it. However part of the pleasure was in becoming more familiar with the culture in Chinese villages, cities and in the political spheres. The author quotes liberally from Chinese poets and philosophers as well as from Chairman Mao. As with any good murder mystery many of the characters live in the fringes of society indelibly flavored by the ancient culture. There is a love story. Will it remain unrequited? Kudos to Author Klinkenborg.
2 people found this helpful
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Cathy G. Cole
3.0 out of 5 stars Excellent setting
Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2021
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Brian Klingborg's first Inspector Lu Fei mystery set in northern China had me looking for a heavy winter coat and a thicker pair of gloves. It was interesting to read a mystery set in an area other than one of the well-known large cities, especially one in the Harbin area which has a strong Russian influence.

Lu Fei is a strong main character. Luckily for him, he's well versed in the martial arts, but he lives a very lonely life, spending many evenings after work drinking in a local bar. One of the reasons why he's lonely is due to his integrity. He's going to do what's right, no matter what, and that puts him at odds-- over and over again-- with corrupt police officers. He even has problems with the constables in his station. The constables' pay is unbelievably low, and they get so much disrespect from people that they have no real incentive to do their jobs properly.

The strongest parts of Thief of Souls are Lu Fei himself and all the information Klingborg gives readers about modern China, a lot of which is fascinating, and I felt that I came away from the book with a much better understanding of the country. However, that presented a problem. The author had to interject this information into the story so often that I began to feel as though I were attending class instead of reading a mystery. To his credit, I really don't see how he could've done this any differently. The information was crucial to the story, but it constantly interrupted the flow.

I also found the killer's identity much too easy to deduce, and I hope Klingborg spends more time in the next book fleshing out his secondary characters because, even though Lu Fei is an interesting character, he can't do it alone.

Even though this first book in the series has some problems, it's still a read that kept my interest throughout, and I'll be interested to see what sort of investigation Lu Fei will be heading next.
9 people found this helpful
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VeeDot
5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging and Mesmerizing from page 1.
Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2021
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Brian Klingborg' s recent novel is a masterpiece. It is so darn compelling you can't put it down, even when immersed in the gruesome parts. If you love crime mysteries, detective thrillers, and tight prose that keep your eyes moving forward, then Thief of Souls is everything you want in a novel, and more. Inspector Lu Fei is a new hero of fiction that should head a series of books and a television serial.
2 people found this helpful
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David Keymer
4.0 out of 5 stars AN INTRIGUING MYSTERY SET IN MODERN DAY CHINA
Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2021
Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )
Lu Fei is an assistant inspector with the Chinese state police, exiled to Raven Valley Township for crossing his (corrupt and incompetent) superior in Beijing. To call his current posting a backwater is an understatement: a big crime wave in Raven Valley is when a chicken disappears into a neighbor’s stew pot. Murder has never been a problem there; even if there had been one, it’d have been the result of a crime of passion, the easiest kind of crime to solve. then a young woman’s body is found. She’s been knocked out with a blow to the head, then strangled. Inspecting the body, they discover a piece of joss paper stuck inside her mouth: it’s ghost money, meant to pay for expenses in the netherworld. When they cut open her body, it’s missing heart, lungs and liver. This is not a crime of instant passion. Something is seriously wrong here.

What follows is a patiently detailed search for a predator who, in Lu’s opinion is probably a killer. An arrest is made almost at once, a village man who was obsessed with the dead woman and followed her around. Lu doesn’t think he did it but in Communist China, arrest is tantamount to a conviction. Lu has to battle superiors, on both the civil and the police side, to continue his investigation.

Klingborg’s first novel doesn’t read like a beginner’s work: it’s a mature and engrossing crime novel, and because of the setting, a backwoods town in modern Communist China, an interesting and enlightening one. Corruption is rampant, not just in the police force but across all areas of government, and authority is strictly hierarchal. It’s dangerous for a junior officer like Lu to face off against his superiors, even when they’re incompetent or corrupt or both. Reading how he does it, and how, slowly and patiently, he uncovers the truth, is fascinating reading. I read it in one evening, with no letdown.

Klingborg’s novel is set in present day times and reflects present day attitudes in China but I was struck by the ways in which this book reminded me of Robert van Gulik’s Judge Dee novels, which drew on the career of the historical figure Di Renjie (ca. 630-700) , a county magistrate of the Tang court, whose investigative exploits were written up in an 18th century Chinese story. There is the patient way Lu pursues the truth, with insight and intelligence but no Sherlockian leaps of knowledge or inspiration, rather the slow accrual of facts. Even more, there is Lu’s mindset. He is constantly quoting Confucius or Mencius, and finds solace in ancient Chinese lyrics, where poetry lies close to philosophy. Lastly, there are commonalities in the two societies, seventh century and twentieth. Even Mao wasn’t able to erase all of Old China.
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Top reviews from other countries

Carolyn
4.0 out of 5 stars A gripping new series involving a detective exiled to rural China
Reviewed in Canada on May 25, 2022
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3.5 stars. The author, American Brian Klingborg, majored in East Asian studies at Harvard with a particular interest in Chinese folklore and religion. He lived and worked in Asia for years. The story is set in modern-day rural China, Raven Valley, with connections with the city of Harbin, 70 miles distant. The area is known for its long, biting, cold winters. Homes are poorly heated and uncomfortable.

People are not far removed from political and legal coercion and corruption, even in the quiet countryside. Deputy Chief Lu Fei graduated from police academy at the top of his class but was unjustly exiled by his corrupt boss to the rural area of Raven Valley. Lu now works alongside other rural officers under the unsteady leadership of Chief Liang.

Lu considers himself happy in this place where nothing much happens. He often drinks in a bar owned by a young widow. She interests him but he is shy and awkward around women. He has been urged to marry but refuses to do so for social convenience. He intends to stay single unless he finds true love.

Lu attends a brutal crime scene. In this Raven Valley District, police work usually entails rounding up stray chickens, finding a stolen pig, accompanying firefighters to determine arson or even calls to help residents with their internet. One day, Lu receives a phone call reporting the murder of a young woman. He received the call because the person could not locate Chief Liang, who was probably somewhere drunk. The woman was butchered in her apartment, her body preserved in the cold. Her liver, lungs, and heart had been expertly removed, and her body sewn up. Joss money, for use in the afterlife, had been stuffed in her mouth.

A simple-minded local worker at a butcher shop had been set up for the crime and arrested. He had attended school with the young woman and had shown excessive interest in her. Lu and people who knew the man arrested thought he was incapable of the crime. He can be kept in prison, even executed, unless Lu can find the true killer. Lu is an honest policeman who is determined to find who committed this unusual and horrendous murder. Is someone harvesting organs for a profit?

Lu calls Beijing and reports to Superintendant Song, Deputy Director of the Crime Investigation Bureau. It was found out that the young woman worked in Harbin and had just returned home when her mother died. Song answers the call with a police team, and they head to Harbin looking for answers. They discover that two women in Harbin were murdered there in the same manner, their organs removed, and the crimes hidden, reportedly to maintain social stability. No connections could be found between the three women murdered in this dreadful manner. Lu and Song have differences in political and legal beliefs but soon join in an uneasy alliance. Lu is subject to contempt from old enemies, and both he and Song are in danger.

Chinese beliefs, customs, religions, and folklore, including ancestor worship, are intrinsic to the plot.
We are reminded how fanatics can twist any spiritual belief to suit their frenzied personal mindset and evil intentions. The plot races towards a dramatic and life-threatening level before the crimes are connected and solved. The killer and the motive were difficult to guess.
I thought this compelling tale transported the reader to an unfamiliar place and culture. I enjoyed the character of Lu and his diligence and have already downloaded the second book in the series.
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