About book Midnight In Peking: How The Murder Of A Young Englishwoman Haunted The Last Days Of Old China (2012)
I really liked this book a lot. A true story about the murder of a young Englishwoman, Pamela Werner, in 1937 China, it covered a particular capsule of history that I previously knew nothing about. I thought it was fascinating, learning about the intricacies of the various legations (essentially, walled enclaves for foreigners) in Peking (now Beijing) and how they interacted with Chinese authorities while under threat from the encroaching Japanese. The book kept me guessing pretty much the whole way through. I wasn't sure which of the cast of characters had killed Pamela until the author laid it out. Reading about the police investigation was really interesting. I love that French left their inability to close the case a question mark. Was it incompetence? Were they too hampered by the people in charge at the British legation, who were trying to save face? Was it by design (i.e. were the police paid off)? That answer is lost to time.Even better was the chapter about the investigation undertaken by Pamela's father after the police closed the case unsolved. I was absolutely amazed by everything he was able to uncover, and moved by her father's love, that he gave pretty much everything he had to discover what happened to her. While her killers were never brought to justice, he at least got his answers.Lastly, the truth of this case - how Pamela died and why - is so much worse than I could have imagined. It's appalling that her killers were never brought to justice, and I'm happy to live in a time where, for the most part, saving face isn't more important than figuring out the truth. The art of historical non-fiction is to create a narrative which reads like a developing news headline, providing just enough historical background, told in a way similar to how a newspaper editor might fill in those late coming readers who had neglected to follow a particular story from the beginning. Some scandal, gore, politics, war, and brushes with seediness always help. Within the storyline, the reader should acquire an interest in the characters, feel like they might know them, and relate and associate with their experience. Author Paul French does accomplish this goal.Midnight in Peking takes us back in time to the door step of what would become China's battle with Japan in WWII. He uses an intriguing story of a woman who was murdered, her father a senior British official who pursues the trail of her death long after a combination of governments have dropped the investigation. Those who are familiar with Chinese history will read in color and depth from an interesting time, while those who are new to Chinese history will not be inundated with dates and names, but may walk away from this book with a more subtle understanding of the long suffering Chinese. Author Paul French is a consummate researcher who has uncovered this long forgotten murder story buried in the archives in the UK Foreign Office. I imagine he must have felt thrilled when he found these archives and couldn't wait to write this compelling story. A murder is a common enough occurrence, however the circumstances under which this murder happened, the lingering investigation threads followed to the bitter end, and the unsolved nature of its status, transform the story from ordinary to extraordinary.
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French offers an interesting historical glimpse into Beijing and the expatriate community there.
—hope4life0414
Riveting account of an unsolved murder in Peking in the late '30s.
—Lindsay
The murder was gruesome, but I enjoyed reading about Beijing.
—st0ka
