Author:Paul French
Midnight in Peking is a gripping true murder mystery by Paul French
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER - AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4
'A first-rate murder story, a thrilling narrative. Hurtles along from one cliffhanger to the next' Spectator
Peking, 1937:
The teenage daughter of a British consul is brutally slaughtered. The police investigation is botched; as war looms British and Chinese authorities close ranks. A grieving father vows to uncover the truth - alone.
Seventy-five years later, historian Paul French uncovers a stash of forgotten documents revealing the killer's identity . . .
For those who loved The Suspicions of Mr Whicher and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil this is a rivetingand evocative true crime classic.
'Gripping, spellbinding . . . drawing the reader from the very first pages into an unwholesome, macabre world' Guardian
'Part historical docudrama, part tragic opera . . . it is French's enormous achievement that he pieces together the puzzle. He tells this tale with the skill of an Agatha Christie' Financial Times
'Fascinating and irresistible. I couldn't put it down'
John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
'Vivid, pulsating, riveting. It is the storytelling flair that marks Midnight in Peking so highly: with its false leads and twists . . . it sucks the reader in like the best fiction' Scotsman
Born in London, Paul French has lived in China for more than 10 years. He is a widely published analyst and commentator on China; his books include a history of North Korea, a biography of Shanghai adman and adventurer Carl Crow, and a history of foreign correspondents in China.
An instant true crime classic. Grips from the first page to the last
—— David Peace, author of Red Riding and The Damned UnitedFascinating and irresistible. I couldn't put it down
—— John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and EvilWritten in the style of a gripping murder mystery, but all the facts are true
—— Kirsty Lang , BBC Radio 4 (Book of the Week)Engrossing true crime whodunnit... A terrific read
—— Andrew Holgate , Sunday TimesNot only does Mr French succeed in solving the crime, he resurrects a period that was filled with glitter as well as evil
—— The EconomistFrench has an easygoing prose style... well chosen quotes bring a new vigour and crispness... [He] succeeds in giving voice to a tragic quest for justice
—— Sunday TelegraphIt is the storytelling flair that marks Midnight in Peking so highly above the run-of-the-mill true crime stories: with its false leads and twists, it sucks the reader in like the best fiction
—— The ScotsmanThe shocking true tale, combined with prose you can't drag yourself away from, makes Midnight in Peking a work of non fiction as compulsive as any bestselling crime novel. It also brings justice at last for a young woman whose murder nearly went unsolved
—— Sunday ExpressTerrific, engrossing ... a gruesome tale of a hitherto forgotten case, and of the sheer tenacity of a grieving father
—— Caroline Sanderson , The BooksellerAbsorbing
—— Daily MailA glorious read!
—— MojomumsA splendid pontine read.
—— LondonistA delightful and informative romp.
—— Richard Boon , N16As a chronicle of social and architectural history, this is an informative and fun read
—— BookbagTindall transforms bricks and mortar into fascinating social history
—— Christopher Hirst , IndependentThe interest here lies in the accurate and plausible portrait of a whole society, from top to bottom… The details are fascinating
—— GuardianThe avowed aim of this fascinating history of neighbours is to explore the delicate balance between people’s determination to protect their privacy and their simultaneous wish to cultivate contact with those who live close by
—— Good Book GuideA very personal encounter with Roman Britain… Invites us to see our landscape and history as the Romans first imagined and wrote about them – strange and exotic islands, perched on the edge of the known world.
—— UK Regional Press[Higgins] is as sharp and sensitive an observer of the latest version of Britannia as she is of the earliest one… Each chapter is not just a regional itinerary but also a brilliantly constructed and often exhilaratingly poetic treatment of wider themes.
—— Emily Gowers , Times Literary SupplementRecords [Higgins’] own travels around the island in search of Roman traces. She includes plenty of anecdotes about the continuing fascination with the Roman past and its penetration of the present.
—— OldieHiggins produced another remarkable British travelogue… that was at once thoughtful, learned, witty and superbly written.
—— William Dalrymple , ObserverFilled with passion and personal interest… Higgins walks us around the landscape of this country as it would have been 2,000 years ago, and in doing so she ably captures the spirit of Britain now, Britain then and Britain in between.
—— Dan Jones , TelegraphWhether at Hadrian’s Wall or in a car park in the City, she [Higgins] shows how Roman traces are woven through British life.
—— Financial TimesA fascinating look at how we have viewed Rome's presence in these islands and what a debt we still owe to Roman achievements.
—— Good Book GuidePart history, part travelogue, [Higgins] also brings to life the eccentric archaeologists who have tried to recapture that lost civilisation.
—— Robbie Millen , The TimesA fresh and readable account
—— Fachtna Kelly , Sunday Business PostUnder Another Sky is not only a work of personal history, it is more personal than that... It is conversational, anecdotal, in a way that makes it easy for [Higgins] to slip in quite a lot of information
—— Nicholas Lezard , GuardianA delightful, effortlessly engaging handbook to the half-lost, half-glimpsed world of Roman Britain... The result is an utterly original history, lyrically alive to the haunting presence of the past and our strange and familiar ancestors
—— Christopher Hart , Sunday TimesThe beauty of this book is not just in the elegant prose and in the precision with which [Higgins] skewers her myths. It is in the sympathy she shows for the myth-makers.
—— Peter Stothard , The TimesEvocative...a keen-eyed tour of Britain.
—— Christopher Hirst , IndependentPacked with fascinating and thought-provoking insights.
—— HeraldA captivating travelogue.
—— Helena Gumley-Mason , LadyA delightfully heady and beautifully written potpourri of a book.
—— BBC History MagazineA fascinating look at the debt we owe to Roman achievements
—— Good Book GuideOne of those fantastical novels that tells us more about the realities of being human than most realist novels do…the most thrilling and moving experience fiction has to offer this year.
—— TIME (Top 10 Fiction Books of Year)Kate Atkinson's audacious novel plays a virtuoso game with the nature of fiction...her best book to date and a worthy winner of a Costa Prize.
—— Daily Telegraph