Special District: Harbin: Book 2

Finalist in 2023 Best Book We've Read All Year by Readfreely The discovery of the defiled body of a local Jewish businessman in a Harbin back alley threatens to tip the city into mob violence… It's 1932 and Borya Melnikov returns to police ranks after the Japanese take over Harbin and end Soviet control, only this time with the Judicial Police of the new state of Manchukuo. Now he has the opportunity to pay back the Soviets for the death of his Russian father by thwarting their subversive efforts. Then the killing of a local Jewish businessman threatens to plunge the city into political turmoil. Borya is assigned to the case along with a police intern from Okinawa, whom Borya isn't sure is an ally or a spy for his Japanese handlers. They find their list of suspects run the gamut from Russian Fascists to Soviet agents to the Anti-Japanese resistance. The closer Borya gets to the truth, the closer he comes to being the killer's next victim. Leaks and deadly attacks convince him he can trust no one except maybe his Japanese partner. Together they are in a race with the killer that takes them to the northern frontiers of Manchuria. If you like a story that is full of action and intrigue, this book is for you…

Finalist in 2023 Best Book We've Read All Year by Readfreely The discovery of the defiled body of a local Jewish businessman in a Harbin back alley threatens to tip the city into mob violence… It's 1932 and Borya Melnikov returns to police ranks after the Japanese take over Harbin and end Soviet control, only this time with the Judicial Police of the new state of Manchukuo. Now he has the opportunity to pay back the Soviets for the death of his Russian father by thwarting their subversive efforts. Then the killing of a local Jewish businessman threatens to plunge the city into political turmoil. Borya is assigned to the case along with a police intern from Okinawa, whom Borya isn't sure is an ally or a spy for his Japanese handlers. They find their list of suspects run the gamut from Russian Fascists to Soviet agents to the Anti-Japanese resistance. The closer Borya gets to the truth, the closer he comes to being the killer's next victim. Leaks and deadly attacks convince him he can trust no one except maybe his Japanese partner. Together they are in a race with the killer that takes them to the northern frontiers of Manchuria. Special District: Harbin: Book 2, The Tigers of East Mountain is an International Mystery & Crime police detective novel that will keep you on the edge of your seat. It is the second book of the award-winning Harbin Mystery Series. If you like a story that is full of action and intrigue, this book is for you…

I am a Seattle native and earned a BA in History at the University of Washington. After a career in aerospace I returned to my first love of history, where I have been particularly drawn to the region of Manchuria. In the Twentieth Century it was fought over by the Russians, Chinese, Japanese, and Western powers. The city of Harbin was a microcosm of that struggle where White Russian refugees and Soviet intrigues vied with rising Chinese nationalism and Japanese imperialism for control. Reading their stories of survival from those tumultuous and divisive times helped me to put our own current state of politics into perspective. Along the way I discovered that writing historical fiction was a way of sharing my own love of history with others. The story-telling allows one to be immersed in the past in ways that ordinary non-fiction history cannot. So naturally my first book of a murder mystery series takes place in 1929 in that crossroad city of Harbin. Because the historical aspect of my story-telling is important to me, I strive to be as accurate to the real past as possible. That includes research of available academic books and articles on Manchuria and Harbin, and even acquiring travel guides, magazines, and maps from the time period.