This is the ninth book in Eliot Pattison’s Inspector Shan series. Therefore, there will probably be spoilers for the previous books in this review. Caveat: I haven’t read the previous book in the series, but the good news is that this book can be read as a stand-alone, without having read the previous novels.

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We find our hero, Shan Tao Yun, reluctantly acting as the constable of tiny Yangkar village in Tibet. His appointment more a punishment than an honor, Shan does his best to toe the party line while remaining sympathetic to the native Tibetans under his jurisdiction. When a military convoy stops in town with a dozen political prisoners and an investigator from the Public Security Bureau in tow, Shan braces himself for trouble. Unfortunately, he has no idea just how bad things can get. When an elderly nun is assaulted and local herders begin talking of “the dead walking” Shan heads into the mountainous terrain to investigate and finds something that defies explanation: an ancient tomb with not one, but three bodies inside – the mummified body of a Tibetan saint, the fifty-year-old corpse of a Chinese soldier, and the days old body of an American. With the Public Security Bureau and the army both digging into the town’s affairs, the situation becomes extremely complicated. Shan must find a way to solve the crimes without getting thrown back in prison or being executed.

This was certainly an interesting mystery. Pattison, while an American author, is a world traveler, and has infused the book with his love of Tibet and his knowledge of the conquest of that country by the People’s Republic of China. The intricacies (and atrocities) of politics between Tibet and China are on full display and impact most every aspect of the plot. Inspector Shan is a wonderful protagonist, vividly realized as a man trying his best to walk the tightrope between two very different worlds. The paranoia and precariousness of his situation are palpable throughout the book.

As I said before, this book works well as a stand-alone novel, but I would imagine you get a bit more out of it if you’ve read the previous books. Fans of the series will likely enjoy this book. I would also recommend it to mystery lovers and those into international intrigue.

An advance copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Skeleton God will be available for purchase on March 7th, 2017.

'In Tibet souls were tried, and souls were tormented, but always souls endured.'

Having not read any of Inspector Shan Tao Yun's exploits before I found myself fascinated with the hints about his past and fall from grace. There is much for me to catchup on, yet the lack of background did not detract from my understanding of trouble in Shan's past and how that placed him in the now.
Here he is a constable in an isolated Tibetan town of Yangkar in Lhadrung County. Shan is confronted with two bodies found in an ancient Tibetan tomb on the Plain of Ghosts.
The story stretches from the ancient past, to the not so ancient past to the now. The People’s Liberation Army and the Hammer of Freedom Brigade's actions in this area have had long tentacles, and those tentacles still have a stranglehold on the area.
That story is set against the background of the army's roundup of 'feral' (undocumented) Tibetans, the destruction and seizure of Buddhist temples and their goods, the separation of families and their 'reeducation', and the demon ghosts and gods roaming the area.
The exploration by Shan of ancient Tibetan artifacts, and his fascination with the Tibetan way of life, the gods, the scared places are all included in this fascinating murder mystery set in an equally as fascinating part of the world. The history of Tibet and the results for that country by China's invasion in the 1950's is brought into sharp focus.

A NetGalley ARC
(March 2017)