I am so very glad that "The Murder of Mr Ma" is the first in a series as this audiobook was flipping glorious! It's based in an era I love (1920s) and firmly in the mystery genre but with so much more besides. If the audiobook is anything to go by, the writing is so good that it can easily transfer to film in the future (and we all know it is rare for a book to be awesome to read, to listen to and to watch) that is some 5 star writing right there

See, I muct love it as I went off on a right wiffling tangent! Oke, I digress; The narration by Daniel York Loh is absolutely brilliant. Epic, dynamic, and atmospheric, a fantastic narrator

Written by the awesome team of John Shen Yen Nee & SJ Rozan, the writing is simply glorious, the ebbs and flows build to a wonderful crescendo, leaving you gasping and sputtering for breath. Stunning

The plight of Chinese immigrants after WWI who came to London is very under-reported (in fact this is the same globally in both world wars) however it is a central theme throughout this audiobook. Two very different personalities come together a la the Sherlock Holmes canon but in a completely new, diverse and fresh way that is istorically authentic. The quiet academic Lao She and the extroverted Judge Dee Ren Jie combine in a mismatch of personalites that are incredibly well written and should not work together but meld onto a powerful symbiosis that works and so very well

This book is so very much more than a mystery (despite being a very good one) it is an action packed adventure, a thriller and has such wonderfully subtle parallels with the stories of Holmes and Watson, but not how you would expect. It explores the side streets if you will

This is certainly a keeper series in my estimation because the writing is flipping incredible

Thank you to Netgalley, RB Media, Recorded Books, the incredible authors John Shen Yen Nee & SJ Rozan and the epic narrator Daniel York Loh for this fantastic ALC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own