Dragon Bones: A Red Princess Mystery (Red Princess Mysteries) | Lisa See

Dragon Bones: A Red Princess Mystery (Red Princess Mysteries) | Lisa See | Another great story

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Dragon Bones: A Re...

	Dragon Bones: A Red Princess Mystery (Red Princess Mysteries) Lisa See Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2004 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 18 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

In a magnificent land where myth mixes treacherously with truth, one woman is in charge of telling them apart. Liu Hulan is the Inspector in China?s Ministry of Public Security whose tough style rousts wrongdoers and rubs her superiors the wrong way. Now her latest case finds her trapped between her country?s distant past and her own recent history.

The case starts at a rally for a controversial cult that ends suddenly in bloodshed, and leads to the apparent murder of an American archaeologist, which officials want to keep quiet. And haunting Hulan?s investigation is the possible theft of ancient dragon bones that might alter the history of civilization itself.

Getting to the bottom of ever-spiraling events, Hulan unearths more scandals, confronts more murderers, and revives tragic memories that shake her tormented marriage to its core. In the end, she solves a mystery as big, unruly, and complex as China itself.

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mystery at the three gorges

Ms. See does it again! This is a story in which you can find out about the effects of long-time water immersion on a human body, the largest mushrooms in the world, the result of the three gorges dam project, and the corruption of public officials. A page-turner for sure!!

Another great story

This 3rd novel in the Red Princess Mystery series was not disappointing. Lisa See continues with her main characters and allows them to grow and reveal themselves further as their lives' circumstances change. The background of modern China brings great insight into what life is really like among is varied billion citizens. The background of the language, the history, and the current events bring everything into the mix for a truly suspenseful, beautifully written mystery. I can't wait for the next installment to see how Hulan and David progress in their lives together. Will they stay in China or move the States? What new international intrigue will be introduced into their lives?

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Another great contemporary mystery by Lisa See

Dragon Bones is Lisa See's third contemporary Chinese mystery featuring Inspector Liu Hulan. I read the first one, Flower Net, and somehow the second passed me by. Like Flower Net, Dragon Bones is both a great detective story and a window into modern Chinese culture. Lisa See manages to show us a lot about a rapidly modernizing China without bogging down the story. Liu Hulan is the kind of character I'd like to have a meal with: smart, interesting, with pain in her past but not consumed by it. Lisa See has a gift at making the character seem completely Chinese to the Western reader yet sympathetic at the same time.

Having recently read, and loved, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel, , I understand more about Lisa See's strengths as a writer. Depiction of foreign culture: fantastic. Male characters: not so much. This wasn't as apparent in Snow Flower because the men lived in a different world from the women characters that were the focus of the story. In Dragon Bones, Hulan is married to an American man, David Stark. David's character never comes to life like Hulan's. Although he and I (and the writer) have more in common than Liu Hulan and I do, never the less, Hulan is fully three-dimensional and believable where David falls flat.

If you like mysteries that are different without being gimmicky, you will enjoy this book. There's no need to read them in order although I'm sure there are some benefits from doing so. There are some graphic crime scenes, as a warning to the squeamish.

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Dragon Bones by Lisa See

What a writer ! Lisa See educates without being pedantic. In Dragon Bones, she has created a complex mystery while including enormous amounts of information on Chinese culture and environmental effects of the Three Gorges Dam. I learned much and was entertained as well.

Great Details

After finishing the Secret Fan, I figured I would give other books of hers a try. While the Dragon Bones mysteries are very different in nature from the Secret Fan, it was still a terrific read. Lisa See has a talent for pulling her reader into the environment of the story. Her words create vivid pictures of the scenes and I can see them easily creating a movie out of this one.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

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