As forensic accountant Ava Lee infiltrates one of the most opulent auction houses in the world, she uncovers a massive web of corruption, where high art and high-stakes fraud threaten more than just her client's businessNthis is one scam that could get her killed.

Forensic accountant Ava Lee attempts to rescue her half-brother and his business partner from a bad real estate deal in Macau that involves gangsters posing as developers.

AVA LEE IS OUT FOR REVENGE IN THE LATEST INSTALLMENT OF IAN HAMILTON’S BESTSELLING THRILLER SERIES Still reeling from the brutal murder of her close associates Lau Lau and Chen, Ava Lee embarks on a quest for revenge that takes her from Toronto to Los Angeles to Beijing. Along the way, Ava is aided by some familiar faces and old comrades-in-arms, including Sonny Kwon, Jimmy Li, Lop, and Xu, the mountain master of Shanghai. The search leads first to Ava’s old opponent, Mo, the chairman of the China Movie Syndicate, and then to a shadowy figure at the very top of the Chinese Security Service—the man who gave the order to kill her friends. Events reach a deadly climax in front of the Tianqiao Theatre in Beijing, but exacting her revenge is only half the battle—getting out of China alive is another matter entirely ...

In the latest thrilling novel in the Ava Lee series, Ava launches an investigation into a fraudulent investment scheme that sends her around the globe on the trail of illegal diamonds, drug smuggling, and offshore banking. Ava and Pang Fai are in Toronto to attend a party at the home of Ava’s mother, Jennie Lee. When Ava’s best friend, Mimi, fails to appear, Ava goes looking for her. She finds Mimi at home, distraught over the death of her father, who has taken his own life after losing the family’s savings in a fraudulent investment scheme. Moved to avenge this tragedy and recover the stolen money, Ava launches an investigation that takes her to cities on three continents. As she tracks the money, Ava is thrust into the underworld of illegal diamond trading, international drug smuggling, and the world’s most secretive offshore banking haven. Along the way, a number of Ava’s old friends offer their assistance—from her business partner, May Ling Wong, to her ge ge, the Mountain Master of Shanghai, Xu. Most poignant of all, Ava is visited in her dreams by Uncle, who offers her much-needed guidance as she confronts a new face of power and corruption.

With the 1989 Beijing massacre fading from popular memory in the West, China from the mid-1990s to a few years ago felt more open than ever to global trade, communication, travel, and cultural and educational exchanges. There was even talk in the mainstream press that China was heading toward a more democratic future. It was during this second Sino-Western honeymoon that authors in the US, Canada, France, the UK, and elsewhere began writing mystery fiction set in contemporary China in their regional languages. These “China mysteries”—crime, detective, and mystery thriller novels that take place in China but were not written or published there—formed a new genre of popular fiction that highlighted the world’s hopes and fears after Tiananmen. The multinational and multicultural writers of China mysteries, among them ex-PRC nationals like Qiu Xiaolong, Zhang Xinxin, and Diane Wei Liang, converged on the China Mainland to negotiate political and cultural complexities through crime fiction plotlines. Their books emerged from Western lineages of the modern novel and popular genre fiction—with Chinese contributions—and depended on Western commercial publishing models shaped by cultural, national, political, and economic factors. This work examines more than a hundred China mysteries—many describing and analyzing social and economic changes at the center of modern life in China—to provide a brief history of the genre and analyze the formulaic and original elements of the mysteries, including their attention to matters of location, social content, characterization, history, and biography. It also highlights the role of “information” acquisition as a motivation for readers and authors of popular fiction, which has become a topic of discussion in Chinese literature studies. With its timely commentary on Sino-Western relations as presented through crime fiction, China Mysteries will appeal to students and scholars of contemporary Chinese literature and culture, as well as fans of crime novels and others who are curious about the global dimensions of the genre and how it complicates our understanding of “world literature.”

Winner of the Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel AVA LEE TAKES ON A MASTER CRIMINAL IN HER MOST DANGEROUS CASE YET In Ian Hamilton's The Water Rat of Wanchai, we meet forensic accountant and martial arts expert Ava Lee in her early days working for the mysterious businessman Uncle as they track down large sums of money that have disappeared. One of Uncle's longtime friends has requested help for his nephew, who needs to recover five million dollars from a business deal that went sideways. Ava steps in and immediately is off on a global hunt for the missing money that has her dodging shady characters. On a journey that takes her from Seattle to Hong Kong, Bangkok, Guyana, and the British Virgin Islands, Ava encounters everything from the Thai katoey culture to corrupt government officials. In Guyana she meets her match: Captain Robbins, a godfather-like figure who controls the police, politicians, and criminals alike. In exchange for his help, Robbins decides he wants a piece of Ava's five million dollars and will do whatever it takes to get his fair share.

Meet Ava Lee — the smartest, most stylish heroine in crime fiction since Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salandar — in the first installment of the wildly popular Ava Lee novels. Ava Lee is a young Chinese-Canadian forensic accountant, who specializes in recovering massive debts and works for an elderly Hong Kong–based “Uncle,” who may or may not have ties to the triads. At 115 lbs., she hardly seems a threat. But her razor-sharp intelligence and unorthodox rules of engagements allow her to succeed where traditional methods have failed. In The Water Rat of Wanchai Ava is persuaded to help an old friend of Uncle’s, whose nephew is owed $5 million from a seafood company that was producing cooked shrimp for a major U.S. retailer. The deal went sideways. The money disappeared. On a journey that takes her to Hong Kong, Bangkok, Guyana, and the British Virgin Islands, Ava encounters everything from the Thai katoey culture to corrupt but helpful law enforcers. But it’s in Guyana where she meets her match: Captain Robbins, a godfather-like figure who controls the police, politicians, and criminals alike. In exchange for his help, Robbins decides he wants a piece of Ava’s $5 million action and will do whatever it takes to get his fair share...

"One of my favorite new mystery series, perfect escapism."—Sarah Weinman, National Post The first book of an electrifying new series, Ian Hamilton's The Disciple of Las Vegas introduces Ava Lee: a deadly martial artist with a taste for luxury and a mind like a steel trap. Fifty million dollars has disappeared into thin air from the accounts of one of the richest men in the Philippines, Tommy Ordonez. His one hope is Ava Lee—sleek, capable forensic accountant and sleuth. With the help of her Triad-connected partner, Uncle, Ava follows the money trail from San Francisco to Costa Rica to the casinos and illegal gambling dens of Las Vegas. Meanwhile, a vengeful adversary from Ava's past has put out a contract on her life, and the shadowy hit man is close at her heels every step of the way. Will Ava recover the stolen cash without stepping into the crosshairs of a growing list of enemies?

Exclusive bundle of books 7, 8, and 9 in the wildly popular series Ava Lee: The Triad Years. This bundle includes: In The King of Shanghai Ava is finally ready to begin her new life as a partner in the Three Sisters venture capital firm. Ava travels to Shanghai to hear a pitch on a new investment possibility and meets with the mysterious Xu, a young man Uncle had been mentoring and who is the head of the Triad in Shanghai. Xu makes an audacious business proposal that she and May Ling are compelled to consider. Against her will, Ava becomes enmeshed in Triad warfare and her future is threatened . . . In The Princeling of Nanjing, Ava is in Shanghai for the launch of the PÖ clothing line. She has invited Xu, and over the course of the glitzy event and a late-night dinner, she detects a certain hesitancy in him. He confides that the Tsai family, headed by Tsai Lian, the governor of Jiangsu Province and a “princeling” is trying to force him and his Triad organization back into the drug business. Ava sets out to help Xu deter the Tsai family. As she digs into the breadth and depth of the family’s wealth and corruption, she gets caught up in a huge tangled web, extending all the way to the U.S. and the U.K., where it reaches the top echelons of political power. In The Couturier of Milan, Ava attends London Fashion Week for the launch of the PÖ fashion line. The show is a success, but it attracts the attention of Dominic Ventola, the principal partner in the luxury fashion conglomerate VLG. VLG offers to buy the Three Sisters’ stake in PÖ. Ava and her partners decline. A few days later, PÖ comes under attack in the fashion media and a large part of their customer base is pressured by VLG to abandon them. Ava decides to strike back and turns to Xu for assistance, leading to a confrontation between two of the world’s biggest global crime syndicates: the Camorra and the Triad.