The White Mirror
A Mystery
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4.5 • 22 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
In The White Mirror, the follow-up to Elsa Hart’s critically acclaimed debut, Jade Dragon Mountain, Li Du, an imperial librarian and former exile in 18th century China, is now an independent traveler. He is journeying with a trade caravan bound for Lhasa when a detour brings them to a valley hidden between mountain passes. On the icy planks of a wooden bridge, a monk sits in contemplation. Closer inspection reveals that the monk is dead, apparently of a self-inflicted wound. His robes are rent, revealing a strange symbol painted on his chest.
When the rain turns to snow, the caravan is forced to seek hospitality from the local lord while they wait for the storm to pass. The dead monk, Li Du soon learns, was a reclusive painter. According to the family, his bizarre suicide is not surprising, given his obsession with the demon world. But Li Du is convinced that all is not as it seems. Why did the caravan leader detour to this particular valley? Why does the lord’s heir sleep in the barn like a servant? And who is the mysterious woman traveling through the mountain wilds?
Trapped in the snow, surrounded by secrets and an unexplained grief that haunts the manor, Li Du cannot distract himself from memories he’s tried to leave behind. As he discovers irrefutable evidence of the painter’s murder and pieces together the dark circumstances of his death, Li Du must face the reason he will not go home and, ultimately, the reason why he must.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hart seamlessly melds the complex politics of 18th-century Asia with a superior fair-play plot in her second whodunit featuring Chinese librarian Li Du (after 2015's Jade Dragon Mountain). Li Du, whose successful solution of a high-stakes murder in the previous book ended his political disgrace, has chosen a nomadic existence that lands him with a commercial caravan traveling in the Tibetan mountains, where his group encounters the eerie spectacle of a dead monk on a bridge. The monk, later identified as Dhamo, a painter who lived in a nearby temple, has the image of a white mirror painted on his face. Li Du astutely deduces that Dhamo was murdered, based on something missing from his studio. The sleuth assiduously probes the potential motives of his fellow guests at the manor where the travelers take shelter, among them a visiting dignitary and a Capuchin. The isolated and eerie manor setting is reminiscent of a classic golden age puzzle mystery, and Hart populates it with well-rounded characters.
Customer Reviews
Great Story but the “physical” book needs work
The story, the second in the series about Li Du, is well written and told well. It has the power to transport one to Li DU’s time and place. The time was one of unrest between China and Tibet — The time shortly after the disappearance of the 6th Dalai Lama. The story uses these historical elements well, while never allowing them to overwhelm the immediate mystery, the apparent suicide of a lama.
Unfortunately the electronic book suffers from a lack of attention to detail. Hopefully the problems will be cleared up in the next update. The specific problems I encountered were associated with the wish to read the book using my iPhone in a horizontal position. When I did this, every other page in some sections was blank. In other places, pages were repeated — sometimes as many as 10 extra times. While the story was complete and I was able to enjoy the writing and the plot, these problems were quite distracting. It is hoped that they may soon be corrected.