Sign Up For My Notices
When Mandarin Yellow opens, Socrates is a 38-year old former lawyer who, after a traumatic falling out with his law partners, walked away from his law practice and started the process of reinventing himself by turning his longtime hobby - collecting valuable, vintage fountain pens - into a retail business.
The one constant in his life is that Socrates is in love with his college sweetheart, Jade Li. Unfortunately, Socrates is not accepted by Jade's family because he is not full-blooded Chinese. When an art exhibit sponsored by Jade's father is burglarized and an historic fountain pen stolen. Socrates sees his chance to ingratiate himself with Jade's father who believes he has lost face in the Chinese community because of the burglary.
Socrates agrees to use his knowledge of vintage fountain pens and his facility with the Mandarin language to track down the thief and recover the Mandarin Yellow and other stolen art.
And that's when Socrates' problems really begin!
Four years after the events that occurred in Mandarin Yellow (in the sequel to that book, tentatively titled The Mourning Woman) Socrates again finds himself caught up in a series of murders as he investigates several suspicious deaths among elderly members of Washington's Greek community.
Once again Socrates crosses paths with interesting characters including, this time, an elderly immigrant Greek woman who is believed to be the direct descendent of the ancient Oracle at Delphi, and who, like her esteemed ancestor, makes several unerring and unnerving prophesies as she interacts with Socrates and his investigation.
Mandarin Yellow is available both as an eBook and as a trade paperback. Copies can be ordered in various eBook reader formats or as a print copy. Order book.