The Jade Cicada

About the Book

The body of a well-dressed young woman was found by the lake, but it turned out to be physically a man. A series of bizarre and violent crimes followed quickly: clothes stolen from a corpse in the city morgue during the night, brutal assaults on innocent persons, a body recovered from the water found to be murdered execution style. Li Weimin, the capable and beloved magistrate, aided by his former boxing master and his young chief constable, discover totally unsuspected goings on under the surface of his peaceful, prosperous city: gambling, extortion, kidnapping, murder, smuggling, and even high treason. Before he is able to put every piece of the puzzle in place, he himself is almost poisoned.

About the Author

The son of a college professor, Shinsun Tsai was born and educated in Shanghai, China, where he received his medical degree. He limited his practice to the treatment of tuberculosis. In 1947 he came to the United States on a fellowship from a county tuberculosis hospital in Minnesota. In 1959 he entered training in the specialty of radiology and subsequently served on the faculty of University of Minnesota and headed the department of radiology at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. Now, retired, he likes to read novels and Chinese poetry and dabbles in writing fiction. He and his wife live in Minneapolis.