The Quartz

Not a whodunnit, The Quartz tracks the interplay between Inspector Lawrence Kwong and the villain, Vice Premier Xiao Mingyu, China’s fourth most powerful man, over a priceless statue of China’s first Emperor, Qin.

The Quartz is the first in a new series called The Inspector Kwong Mysteries, based on characters from Warren’s novel, Hong Kong Blues. The Quartz is not a whodunnit. It tracks the action in Hong Kong and Beijing of both Chief Inspector Lawrence Kwong and the villain, Vice Premier Xiao Mingyu, the fourth most powerful man in the People’s Republic of China. Twists and turns along the way bring them face to face with each other. The McGuffin of the piece, the Qin Quartz, is a treasure from the tomb of Emperor Qin, the first Emperor of China.

ABOUT VIC WARREN AUTHOR OF THE RIVER, THE QUARTZ, HONG KONG BLUES, SAFFRON, AND STAIRWAY OF THE GODS With a phenomenal career that started out writing and designing over 100 children’s books published with Scholastic and McGraw-Hill, as well as a Clio award-winning advertising career, Vic Warren was ready for a new writing challenge. In his first novel, Stairway of the Gods, Warren took the legendary story of Japanese officer, General Tomoyuki Yamashita—who is rumored to have buried priceless spoils of war in the Philippines just before the end of World War II—and turned it into riveting fiction. Warren’s tale of skullduggery unfolds on the slopes of the Banaue rice terraces when an earthquake reveals Yamashita’s treasure, and Joan and Paul Webster are stuck on the mountain. When Joan is faced with trying to keep the discovery secret, they find themselves confronted with deceit, betrayal and murder. Saffron, his second book, is a sci-fi adventure that reads like mainstream fiction. It deals with the discovery of a race of underwater humans off today’s California coast. Saffron is the first in a new series of books Warren is calling The Neptune Chronicles. His third novel, Hong Kong Blues, is a Hitchcock-style thriller about a newly-married couple being chased through the streets of Hong Kong by two competing Triads desperate to hear a dying man’s last words. The early response to some of the characters encouraged him to create a spinoff series, The Inspector Kwong Mysteries. He has finished the first two novellas in the series, The Quartz and The River, and is working on number three, The Fog. Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, Warren worked as an advertising executive in the travel industry for 30-plus years. He is a recipient of a Clio award and is best known for creating the Alaska Airlines Eskimo logo. His experience with Alaska Airlines opened many doors for him in the travel and tourism industry and he started his own company called Turning Heads. He also became a book packager, editor, designer and writer in collaboration with several illustrators, producing more than 100 children’s books. He attended the San Francisco Academy of Art, majoring in graphic design and art direction. Warren is an avid traveler to Asia, Europe and the South Pacific. He is currently at work on Girl on a Dolphin, Book Two of The Neptune Chronicles. He lives in San Diego with his wife, Laurel, and their three-legged cat, Oscar. To learn more about his novels, please visit www.vicwarren.com.