Gelignite (Yellowthread Street Mystery)

This is another in the wonderful series of fictional mysteries set in Hong Kong in the last several decades of British rule. The continuing characters, Chief Inspector Harry Feiffer, Christopher O'Yee, and Detectives Auden and Spencer, once again are challenged to a series of baffling crimes. Marshall succeeds in blending the suspenseful with the humorous. "Zany" is the adjective that seems to describe his humor most accurately. In this adventure, someone is using gelignite to blow up citizens of Hong Bay, part of Feiffer et al's beat on Yellowthread Street. A secondary plotline has O'Yee hunting for a stuffed bird on behalf of a wealthy Hong Kong businessman. I usually give these books 5 stars. However, the labyrinthine explanation at the end of the book went on a little longer than I thought was necessary. But I readily admit that those readers with a LeCarre bent will probably feel right at home. I know of no other mystery writer who can combine the gruesome with the gross, the horrible with the humorous, and the suspenseful with the silly. I've already started another Marshall mystery, and hope to review it here shortly.