The Shanghai Tunnel

"The stench of embalming fluid rose from the open ocffin and struck Emily with the force of a tidal wave," is an opening line readers won't soon forget. But, with that sentence, Sharan Newman's new novel, "The Shanghai Tunnel," is out of the chute like a main event bull at a rodeo. Emily, of course, is the widow of the embalmed cadaver -- and, contrary to expectations of grief, Newman follows the startling opening line with "And with that she also closed the lid on eighteen years of marriage to a monster" -- Now, let the games begin! The year is 1848. As Emily and her son make thir way north to Portland. After the beauty and culture of Shanghai and Boston, they are shocked by the shabby frontier of western America. Furthermore, unbeknownst to them, a cast of shady characters, so called Portland businessmen and double dealers have already put in place nefarious plans to relieve them of their inheritance. In the early chapters of this book, we learn of the hidden conspiracy of Horace, Emily's cruel and deceptive husband, and his equally dissembling business partners who intend to take the company from her and put her on a miserly dole while keeping the enormous profits for themselves. A novel full of secrets, we learn that her young son is a drunkard and opium addict. Later, Robert, the son is seen dating the same young Chinese girl his father bought and brought to Portland and then sold. As the story unfolds, we learn that Emily's husband's scoundrel partners learn of her son's vices and plan to co-opt him in their plan to take over her corporation. Further, Emily discovers a jewel box, love letters, and a mini-diary of Horace's most illegal and immoral dealings. Meanwhile, of course, the double dealing partners plot to get rid of both Emily and her son even though that may mean murder. In the novel it takes yet another kidnapping to unravel before the plot begins to resolve via Emily's tenacious investigations. We watch with wonder as Emily strengthens her character that had always been hidden in the rigid expectations of Victorian women, especially the child of missionaries in China. To the author's credit, the puzzle is not all gift-wrapped with tidy bows to see the bad guys punished and the good ones saved, rather the reader is left with many strings to think about. And, this says nothing of the mysterious Shanghai Tunnel that she has explored.

This was a good mystery. While I was not quite as enthusiastic about the main character as the back cover indicated I would be, she was quite likable. With a suspension of disbelief (I have doubts that such a woman would actually have existed at that time), she was realistically drawn. Good, relaxing fiction. A one or two evening read.

Perhaps one has to live in Portland, Oregon in order to be able to appreciate Sharan Newman's "The Shanghai Tunnel," or perhaps one just has to be discriminating enough to appreciate this slower paced but finely nuanced mystery novel. As you have probably guessed, this is going to be a review in praise of "The Shanghai Tunnel." With her husband's sudden death, Emily Stratton finds herself facing several options: returning to China, where she had spent most of her life, establishing herself in San Francisco as a rich widow, or proceeding to Portland, Oregon, her dead husband's home town, and settling down there with her teenaged son. Having no illusions about the kind of man her husband was and the unscrupulous business practices that he probably participated in, Emily is determined to detach her son and herself from anything illegal and sordid, and the first step is to examine her husband's business papers. To her dismay, her husband's business partners seem reluctant to surrender his papers to her, protesting that she should trust them to have her best interests at heart, and that she wouldn't be able to understand the complexities of the business enterprises anyway. Used to being completely dominated by her husband, Emily is not about to allow her husband's business partners to treat her the same way; and anyway their reluctance to deal with her only confirms her suspicions that there is something untoward about her husband's business dealings. Determined to discover all, Emily presses on and soon finds herself wondering if she has bitten off than she can chew... Like Sharan Newman's excellent Catherine LeVendeur series, "The Shanghai Tunnel" is an excellently researched historical novel, full of wonderful and detailed period details and fairly reeking of atmosphere -- I'll confess that "The Shanghai Tunnel" has inspired me to read up more diligently about Portland's history. But to get back to the somewhat reserved response so far to Sharan Newman's latest novel; it is true the book did unfold a tad slowly, juxtaposing between Emily's investigation into what's going on, and her responses to life without her brutal husband, and her new life in Portland. For readers who prefer more dynamic, forceful heroines, Emily's retiring and reserved ways may frustrate; however, I'd advise everyone to keep an open mind. "The Shanghai Tunnel" is a very different kind of mystery novel -- the type that almost requires slow and careful reading so that one can not only appreciate the mystery at hand but also slow transformation of Emily Stratton from a downtrodden wife into someone who comes into her own. All in all a very rich and absorbing read.

In 1867 Horace Stratton decides to return home to Portland after a very successful business trip in Shanghai. Accompanied by his wife Emily and their teenage son Robert they reach San Francisco in January 1868; only Horace dies there. The dutiful daughter of missionaries, feeling some guilt for she knows she never lived up to her husband's expectations, Emily and Robert bring Horace's body home to be buried in Portland. The surviving Strattons plan to live in Horace's hometown; not aware of how rough and tumble of a place it is in spite of leading citizens hoping to turn it into the San Francisco of the northwest. However, the widow and her son are not welcomed by Portland's elitists especially those who partnered with Horace. They are ignorant as to how much she really knows and understands about her late husband's unethical and mostly illegal activities; and her plans to learn what she does not know. Still they will not take chances and plot to drive her and her son out of town; if they fail to run her out then they will bury her next to her deceased husband. THE SHANGHAI TUNNEL (in an afterward Sharan Newman explains that the tunnels exist under Portland's streets) is an enjoyable and riveting historical amateur sleuth tale that brings alive Reconstruction Era Portland, which obviously has come a long way from its salad days. The Oregonians are a deep support cast, but the story line totally belongs to the courageous widow as she surprises everyone including her self with her grit by refusing to leave. Horace must be turning in his grave witnessing what he never saw in his wife; as the mouse roars. Ms. Newman begins her new historical saga (see Catherine LeVenduer historical mysteries) with a winning mid nineteenth century thriller. Harriet Klausner