Fans of Golden Age mysteries set in exotic lands with eccentric characters will love this long out-of-print masterpiece that many critics said should have been included in the Haycraft-Queen list of cornerstone mysteries, written by a man who fought in the Spanish Civil War and was a victim of the Hollywood blacklist. In these pages you will meet Gimiendo Hernandez Quinto, a gigantic Mexican who once rode with Pancho Villa and who now trains guerrilleros for the Nationalist Chinese government when he isn't solving murders. At his side is a beautiful Eurasian known as Mountain of Virtue, a woman as dangerous to men as she is irresistible, and a superb card player as well—so long as she's dealing. Then there's Mildred Woodford, a hard-drinking British journalist; John Tate, a portly American calligrapher who wasn't made for adventure; Lt. Chi, a young Hunanese patriot weighted down with the woes of China and the Brooklyn Dodgers; Nevada, a young cowboy who is as deadly with a six-gun as he is inept at love; and a host of others, any one of whom may have killed Abe Harrow, an ambulance driver who appears to have died at three different times. There's also a cipher or two to crack, a train with a mind of its own, and Chiang Kai-shek's false teeth, which have gone mysteriously missing.

Reviews

“Another publisher that is bringing classical-era detective fiction back into print is the Rue Morgue Press, and the 1942 American novel Murder, Chop Chop, by journalist James Norman, is a terrific story set in China in 1938, during the Japanese occupation. The book is perfectly fascinating in its bringing together of a wide variety of ethnic groups and social classes around a very puzzling murder mystery. The detective is Gimiendo Hernandez Quinto, a gigantic Mexican who rode with Pancho Villa and is training guerrilleros for the Nationalist Chinese government. In addition to the interesting depictions of the Mexican Quinto, the Chinese locals (who are presented in fascinating detail and variety), the Japanese occupiers, and various Brits, Scots, and Americans, Norman provides a knotty puzzle, numerous fast-moving action sequences, insights into China and its history and philosophies, and a fascinatingly complex romance between Quinto and Mountain of Virtue, a beautiful Eurasian woman who seems to be working for all sides simultaneously. It’s a corker of a story, and someone really ought to make a movie of it right away.”
—S.T. Karnick, National Review Online.

“The book has the butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-his-mouth cool of Rick in Casablanca.”
—Jane Dickinson, The Rocky Mountain News

Order This Book