The Fatal Sin of Love by G. X. Chen - A Female Charlie Chan? Cool Mystery...

 G. X. Chen might not yet have gained the status of famed Charlie Chan, but the tone and tenacious style of investigation by the two main characters is quite similar... Keep writing G. X. Chen! Before we begin on this book, you might want to check out my review of an earlier novel, The Mystery of Moutai...

The Fatal Sin of Love

By G. X. Chen

This is actually the third mystery book for Chen, but the second since the Back Bay Investigation Agency has begun in a series. This time Ann Lee, and later Fang Chen, are brought into the mystery by her roommate, Jane Tian, who was called by her father from China! He had become heir to a large estate left by a cousin and he needed Jane to represent him there in America...

What had actually happened to bring this about was that his cousin had been murdered! And Ann's radar had quickly got her interested!

Ms. Guo woke up in the middle of a night with a start. She lay flat on her back, listening reflexively to the peculiar reverberation only to fall back asleep when the sound faded away. Mrs. Donovan, her employer for the past two years, had been suffering chronic heartburn from time to time, so the maid was accustomed to the midnight grumbles; even the family dog, Alex, didn't bother to bark...It should be a cool but sunny spring day, Ms. Guo thought pleasurably while watching the horizon change the colors--the brighter ruby red slowly replaced the darker crimson as the edge above turned orange, lemon, and lime...Ms. Guo hated the cold and snowy winter with a passion, not only because she was used to the warm climate in her home country, but also because she had to go to DeLuca's Market on Charles Street every morning, rain or shine. Mrs. Donovan, a seventy-five-year-old widow, was bedridden but very fussy and liked her meals made every day with fresh produce and intredients, starting with freshly squeezed orange juice in the morning...As she finally put everything on a tray, the clock in the sitting room struck nine, the time to serve Mrs. Donovan breakfast in ged.

Ms. Guo took the tray up to the second floor, where Mrs. Donavan kept her private quarters--a spacious living room and a master bedroom with en suite bathroom. As usual, the door to her apartment was closed but not locked...It was dark inside, as heavy velvet curtains blocked any morning sunlight that could peek through. Ms. Guo put the tray on the dresser that sat across from the bed, a king-size four-poster with silk draperies, and walked toward the windows to draw the curtains. Alex, a Pekingese, left his owner's bedside as soon as Ms. Guo walked in. He had a beautiful white coat and a pair of big, sorrowful eyes half-covered by his long hairs. He had been following the maid at a leisurely pace, waiting patiently for his chance to eat and go out. After serving Mrs. Donavan breakfast, it was the time for the maid to feed and walk the dog.

"Another fine day, Mrs. Donavan," Ms. Guo said brightly while pulling the curtains aside and opening the French doors to the balcony, paying absolutely no attention to Alex, who had been following closely behind her. Instead of usual mumbling, however, there was no response from the old lady. Ms. Guo whirled around in alarm. "Mrs. Donovan?" she called out uncertainly, looking at the bundle in the bed. No answer, no movement, and nothing stirred.  Alex stopped in his tracks, looking up at the maid, who tiptoed to the four-posted bed. Having taken just one look, she started screaming.

"Oh my God; oh my God," she screeched and shrieked while fleeing the apartment like a chicken with its head cut off, followed by the dog, who ran after her at an equally fast speed. Ms. Guo flew down two sets of stairs, and crashed into the family room on the first floor. When the 911 operator picked up the phone, Ms. Guo was sobbing into the receiver, telling anyone who cared to listen that her employer was dead.

~~~

"I'm calling you because I got a phone call from
a lawyer this morning... "Mr. Haws...told me
a cousin of your grandpa's has died and left your
grandpa a fortune up to millions. Since your
grandpa has passed away, I am the heir...the
lawyer wanted me to meet him in his office next
week--imagine!" He was still awestruck. "I don't
know what to think of it, but this is what I know--
I don't want to talk to Mr. Haws because I can't
speak English...That's why I'm calling you... I
told Mr. Haws that I have a daughter who lives in
Boston, so he agreed to let you represent me after
I granted you the power of attorney...I want you
to call him tomorrow and arrange a meeting as
soon as possible."
!!!

Paul Winderman, detective sergeant of the Boston police department, was already in the neighborhood when the 911 call came from the maid. Soon  he was heading through the door of the beautiful brownstone which easily would go for a million. Alex was there to meet him as was the maid, who was still crying. As normal, the questions started and he discovered that the deceased had no children to notify. Leaving the maid downstairs, he made his way to the woman's room. He thought she might have had a seizure given the position of the body.

In the meantime, it had not taken Donovan's lawyer long before notifying Jane's father that he was the primary individual to inherit, which would be about 20% of the estate, while the rest would be smaller charities and individuals who would receive a small amount. Jane had been designated as her father's representative to handle everything... Would he have done so if he'd known that his relative had been murdered?

Or that he would soon also be murdered?

Or that an attempt was to be made on Jane's life???

Winderman had enjoyed working with Ann before so he was happy to learn she had a connection to the case and would be able to help as interpreter again. And when the murder occurred in China, he willingly agreed to work with them from Boston to support in any way...Because before long, Jane, together with Ann and Fang, were traveling there to be with Jane's mother and learn what they could about past and present family connections...

Jane and Ann had gone out to celebrate and had enjoyed their dinner and drinks so much that when a package of Godiva Chocolates was found on the doorstep, they just opened them and left them to go on to bed... Actually, it was Coco, their dog, who was the second death...due to the chocolates that Jane would have normally eaten right away. Coco had eaten some while they had slept... When they tested for poison, they discovered it contained arsenic. And, based upon that, they performed an autopsy on Mrs. Donovan, who was also poisoned. The package that had been sent from Boston, supposedly from Jane to her father, had been sent much earlier and had arrived before anybody could realize and notify Jane's family in China. He, too, had received a box of chocolates...

Obviously, the killer either knew what was in Donovan's will, or it was somebody in the family, which really didn't narrow it down since the entire village located on the South China Sea was related in some way...

Nothing seemed to be able to stop this killer and it was clear that the planning had begun quite some time ago. Would they discover who had killed...to gain the millions left in this family inheritance?

"Mrs. Tian [Jane's mother] laughed, showing a dimple on one cheek. She was a good-looking middle-aged woman with a ready smile. "The story goes like this," she said. "A long, long time ago, our ancestors--a couple with several kids--settled down at a homestead north of the South China Sea. When the kids married and had their own families, the couple built a house for each of them not far from one another inside the homestead. When their offspring's children grew up, they built more houses. After several generations and more than a hundred years later, a homestead became a village, and several villages formed a town. The name of our village is Chang Jin Chun, the village of the Chang family, reflecting the fact that the Changs were the first settlers in our village...

~~~

This is a good solid mystery that keeps readers involved in solving it, yet at the same time, there is the feeling of a cozy book, even though Ann and Feng have formed an investigation service--to me, it still had the personal flair of a cozy mystery, with the personal lives of the characters much more shared than in a police procedure. In fact, there is a subplot that is fun when Feng, who is just meeting Jane, is immediately attracted to her, while Ann begins to feel jealous, even though she's not previously been attracted to Feng...

I enjoyed exploring the family connections, and even finding a long-lost cousin to Jane and her mother. That resulted in a poignant ending that I thought greatly added to the climax... And, of course, traveling to China as part of a murder investigation proved to add a dimension to be enjoyed for many of us who love to travel in our fictional lives! LOL 

This novel makes a clear step forward in the series...Who knows, maybe the ancestors of Charlie Chan will need to take over the Back Bay Agency to prevent a firm competitor to their livelihoods! Really an enjoyable book--Highly recommended...

GABixlerReviews

About the Author

G. X. Chen, author of The Back Bay Investigation Series and other novels, is a freelance writer who loves reading, traveling and orchids. A graduate of Fudan University and University of New Mexico, she has taught literature at Fudan as well as Shanghai Foreign Language Institute. She lives in the beautiful city of Boston with her husband, Steve.

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