November 4, 1924

My greetings to you. I am Hoong Liang. Your curiosity about my day honors me and I shall try to satisfy it.

I suppose your interest stems from the fact that I’m what we would have called, in my army years, a comrade-in-arms to Judge Dee Ren Jie. The army is long behind me, and was never a part of Judge Dee’s career; nevertheless, the connection remains, from our boyhood.

I am the elder, by a decade and a half. My father was tutor to Dee and his brothers at their family home in Yantai, where I joined in their lessons and their kung fu practice. Restless to see what the world was about, I later entered the army, rising to the rank of Sergeant before I left the Emperor’s service and took to sea. As a merchant sailor I saw many countries, many peoples. Finally I settled in London, taking over the shop of my cousin who, after the Great War, desired to return home.

Thereafter for some time I spent my days in peaceful pursuits. I would arise, make tea and congee, to which I would add salted fish or a preserved egg. Opening the shop, I’d greet my customers and fulfill their requests for cloth, dishes, cookware, tea, bamboo fans, and incense — nothing of interest to Chinoiserie-obsessed London society, but all of use to the Chinese sailors and stevedores of Limehouse and Pennyfields. These areas are also home to other peoples who cannot claim either riches, or the status of Anglo-Saxon: Arabs, Lascars, Jews, Africans from the Guinea Coast, men and women from the Caribbean islands. I enjoy the company of them all, as we share stories and cuisines.

Of course, before breakfast and again in the afternoon, I find a time to practice my king fu.

The shop has a number of small rooms at the back, some rooms above, and out behind, a dusty yard. The rooms above are rented out; I sleep in a rear room and in another I keep my weapons: my monk’s spade, my swords, staffs, throwing stars, and my mu ren zhuang — the wooden man. I choose the practice for the day and begin, with warmups, forms, and weapon.

Thus would my day proceed, from breakfast to late tea, with shopkeeping, practice, and visiting, in peace and harmony. Until the arrival in London of Judge Dee.

Perhaps you’ve read about our reunion? Lao She narrated it quite competently, I thought, in THE MURDER OF MR. MA. Of course, the events of that investigation and the one that followed, as recounted in THE RAILWAY CONSPIRACY, have created havoc in my orderly life. I’m constantly having to close the shop to accompany Dee — or Lao, or a semi-reformed young thief called Jimmy Fingers — on this or that errand in service of whatever inquiry Dee has embarked upon. I’ve been required to fight Englishmen, Chinese assassins, Japanese ninjas, and Russian Cossacks, with weapons and without. My ambition, to have no ambition, has been put aside as I take up my position as Dee’s colleague, advisor, and yes, comrade-in-arms. Now Dee has once again embarked upon an investigation and will soon be in need of my help.

I would have it no other way.

The Railway Conspiracy: A Dee and Lao Mystery, Book 2
Genre: Historical Mystery
Release: April 2025
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Purchase Link

Judge Dee and Lao She must use all their powers of deduction—and kung fu skills—to take down a sinister conspiracy between Imperial Russia, Japan, and China in a rollicking new mystery set in 1920s London.

London, 1924. Following several months abroad, Judge Dee Ren Jie has returned to the city to foil a transaction between a Russian diplomat and a Japanese mercenary. Aided by Lao She—the Watson to his Holmes—along with several other colorful characters, Dee stops the illicit sale of an extremely valuable “dragon-taming” mace.

The mace’s owner is a Chinese businesswoman who thanks Dee for its retrieval by throwing a lavish dinner party. In attendance is British banking official A. G. Stephen, who argues with the group about the tenuous state of Chinese nationalism—and is poisoned two days later. Dee knows this cannot be a coincidence, and suspects Stephen won’t be the only victim. Sure enough, a young Chinese communist of Lao’s acquaintance is killed not long after—and a note with a strange symbol is found by his body.

What could connect these murders? Could it be related to rumors of a conspiracy regarding the Chinese Eastern Railway? It is once again all on the unlikely crime-solving duo of Dee and Lao to solve the case before anyone else ends up tied to the rails.

The follow-up to The Murder of Mr. Ma, this historical adventure-mystery is perfect for fans of Laurie R. King and the Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes films.

About the authors
SJ Rozan is the award-winning author of 20 novels and 90+ short stories. She was born in the Bronx and lives in Manhattan. John Shen Yen Nee is a half-Scottish, half-Chinese media executive and entrepreneur, born Knoxville and now living in Los Angeles.