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An Inspector Shan Tao Yun Mystery
In Eliot Pattison's Skeleton God, Shan Tao Yun, now the reluctant constable of a remote Tibetan town, has learned to expect the impossible at the roof of the world, but nothing has prepared him for his discovery when he investigates a report that a nun has been savagely assaulted by ghosts.
In an ancient tomb by the old nun lies a gilded saint buried centuries earlier, flanked by the remains of a Chinese soldier killed fifty years before and an American man murdered only hours earlier. Shan is thrust into a maelstrom of intrigue and contradiction.
The Tibetans are terrified, the notorious Public Security Bureau wants nothing to do with the murders, and the army seems determined to just bury the dead again and Shan with them. No one wants to pursue the truth–except Shan, who finds himself in a violent collision between a heartbreaking, clandestine effort to reunite refugees from Tibet separated for decades and a covert corruption investigation that reaches to the top levels of the government in Beijing, China. The terrible secret Shan uncovers changes his town and his life forever.
"Starred Review. Even readers unfamiliar with the physical and cultural devastation China has wrought in Tibet will find themselves engrossed - and moved - by Pattison's nuanced portrayal." - Publishers Weekly
"Pattison's ninth installment provides an important history lesson little understood in the West with authority, nuance, and genuine suspense." - Kirkus
"This ninth in Edgar Award–winner Pattison's Inspector Shan Tao Yun series is slow in parts but offers a satisfying tale of murder mixed with historical detail, family love, and 1984-like political inanity that will keep readers tuned in." - Booklist
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Photo: Jerry Bauer
Described as "a writer of faraway mysteries," Eliot Pattison's travel and interests span a million miles of global trekking. After visiting every continent but Antarctica, Pattinson stopped logging his miles and set his compass for the unknown. Today he avoids well-trodden paths whenever possible, in favor of wilderness, lesser known historical venues, and encounters with indigenous peoples.
An international lawyer by training, early in his career Pattison began writing on legal and business topics, producing several books and dozens of articles published on three continents. In the late 1990's he decided to combine his deep concerns for the people of Tibet with his interest in venturing into fiction by writing The Skull Mantra. Winning the Edgar Award for Best First ...
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