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The Skull Mantra (Inspector Shan Tao Yun #1) (Paperback)

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Description


Winner of the Edgar Award for Best First Novel, The Skull Mantra was a sensation when first published and received wide acclaim from critics and readers alike. The Skull Mantra is ranked as a novel about a people and a place--the Tibetans of the high Himalayas--as it is a gripping thriller.

The corpse is missing its head and is dressed in American clothes. Found by a Tibetan prison work gang on a windy cliff, the grisly remains clearly belong to someone too important for Chinese authorities to bury and forget. So the case is handed to veteran police inspector Shan Tao Yun. Methodical, clever Shan is the best man for the job, but he too is a prisoner, deported to Tibet for offending someone high up in Beijing's power structure. Granted a temporary release, Shan is soon pulled into the Tibetan people's desperate fight for its sacred mountains and the Chinese regime's blood-soaked policies. Then, a Buddhist priest is arrested, a man Shan knows is innocent. Now time is running out for Shan to find the real killer.

About the Author


Eliot Pattison is the author of The Skull Mantra, which won the Edgar Award and was a finalist for the Gold Dagger, as well Water Touching Stone and Bone Mountain. Pattison is a world traveler and frequent visitor to China, and his numerous books and articles on international policy issues have been published around the world.

Praise For…


“Like Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko, Shan becomes our Don Quixote, an apolitical guide through a murky world of failed socialism...Set against a background that is alternately bleak and blazingly beautiful, this is at once a top-notch thriller and a substantive look at Tibet under siege.” —Publisher's Weekly (starred review) on The Skull Mantra

“It's rare when a mystery brings something fresh to the genre. Eliot Pattison has accomplished this with his Edgar Award-winning debut, The Skull Mantra.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“Superb...breathlessly suspenseful.” —Kirkus Reviews


Product Details
ISBN: 9780312385392
ISBN-10: 0312385390
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: September 30th, 2008
Pages: 416
Language: English
Series: Inspector Shan Tao Yun