A bounty hunter is dispatched to investigate the murder of an opium dealer. The daughter of the deceased seems key to unravelling the mystery – but can he keep them both alive? This polished work, a decade in the making, recreates the world of 1920s Shanghai.

In 1920s Shanghai, business is booming and the city flourishing. Modern cinemas, dance halls and coffee shops spring up on every street. But there are also foreign concessions, territorial gangs, infighting police factions and a trade in opium which is making Shanghai a hub for the drug. And away from the bright lights, powerful forces are struggling for control of that lucrative business.

Tony Shine catches criminals for government bounties. He is known to the police as Junior because of his father – a high-ranking policeman who died in car accident. His father’s death made Tony unwilling to join the police and follow in those footsteps – he prefers to carve a new path, between the forces of order and disorder, following his own code of justice.

A drug dealer, Mr. Fan, is found slaughtered in the street and Tony agrees to investigate. Fan’s daughter, Angelina, has the information he needs to find the killers – but can Tony win her trust and protect her from those who want to see her silenced? How can he both solve the case and serve the interests of justice?

A labor of love which Evan Huang worked on for a decade, this is a tale of gang warfare and police investigations, with a pacey plot and a colorful recreation of the Shanghai of the 20s and 30s. The reader joins our protagonist onto the streets of the city during the early years of the Republic of China, experiencing the allure of that chaotic yet progressive era.