The Tiger and the Honorable Man

A series of murder mysteries set in Ming Dynasty China. The protagonist is Lin Jiang, a gentleman scholar, poet, staunch follower of the precepts of Confucius, and chief magistrate for the city of Xiaolong in Fujian Province. With the able assistance of his manservant, Chen Ping, Lin investigates and solves these mysteries, bringing criminals, both high- and low-born, to justice. 

Abruptly roused from his prosaic existence as a small-town magistrate in Ming Dynasty China, Lin Jiang is summoned to the house of Lord Chang Da, an extremely wealthy landowner and cousin of the emperor. To Lin’s consternation, the crime he is asked to investigate is the supposedly deliberate killing of Chang Da’s pet songbird. 

Honor-bound to undertake the task, Lin soon discovers there is much more at stake in the great family of Chang. With the help of his trusty manservant Chen Ping, who himself has a dark connection to the House of Chang, Lin sets about discovering the truth. In so doing, he lays bare a tangled story of illicit love, jealousy, fraternal rivalry, and violent death.