Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China

by Paul French

A father hunts for his daughter's killer in the gripping true story Midnight in Peking by Paul French -which finally solves the case.

On a frozen morning in January 1937, in the dying days of colonial Peking, a body was found under the haunted watchtower. It was Pamela Werner, the teenage daughter of the city's former British consul ETC Werner. Her heart had been removed.

A horrified world followed the hunt for Pamela's killer, with a Chinese-British detective team pursuing suspects including a blood-soaked rickshaw puller, the Triads, and a lascivious grammar school headmaster. But the case was soon forgotten amid the carnage of the Japanese invasion... by all but ETC Werner. With a network of private investigators and informers, he followed the trail deep into Peking's notorious Badlands and back to the gilded hotels of the colonial Quarter.

Some 75 years later, deep in the Scotland Yard archives, British historian Paul French accidentally came across the lost case file prepared by ETC Werner. Unveiling an undercover sex cult, heroin addicts and disappearing brothels, the truth behind the crime can now be told - and is more disturbing than anyone could imagine.

Not just the unputdownable story of a savage murder, Midnight in Peking is a sweepingly evocative account of the end of an era.

'An instant true crime classic. Grips from the first page to the last' David Peace, author of Red Riding and The Damned United

'Fascinating and irresistible. I couldn't put it down' John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

'Written in the style of a gripping murder mystery, but all the facts are true' Kirsty Lang, BBC Radio 4 (Book of the Week)

'Engrossing true crime whodunnit... A terrific read' Andrew Holgate, Sunday Times

'Not only does Mr French succeed in solving the crime, he resurrects a period that was filled with glitter as well as evil' The Economist

'French has an easygoing prose style... well chosen quotes bring a new vigour and crispness... [He] succeeds in giving voice to a tragic quest for justice' Sunday Telegraph

'It is the storytelling flair that marks Midnight in Peking so highly above the run-of-the-mill true crime stories: with its false leads and twists, it sucks the reader in like the best fiction' The Scotsman

'The shocking true tale, combined with prose you can't drag yourself away from, makes Midnight in Peking a work of non fiction as compulsive as any bestselling crime novel. It also brings justice at last for a young woman whose murder nearly went unsolved' Sunday Express


Born in London, Paul French has lived in China for more than 10 years. He is a widely published analyst and commentator on China; his books include a history of North Korea, a biography of Shanghai adman and adventurer Carl Crow, and a history of foreign correspondents in China.

• ISBN10: 0143121006
• ISBN13: 9780143121008
• Publish Date: 24 April 2012 (first published 1 April 2012)
• Publish Status: Remaindered
• Out of Print: 27 August 2015
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Penguin USA
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 260
• Language: English

Reviews

[Lianne]

I won an advanced reading copy of this novel through the GoodReads First Reads programme. You could read my full review of the book over at my blog: http://www.eclectictales.com/blog/2012/02/24/review-midnight-in-peking/

French draws an interesting portrayal of Peking in the late 1930s and presents the sad details surrounding Pamela Werner's murder in a clear and accessible manner. I was especially interested by daily life in Peking, the way in which the police approached the investigation and the larger political issues that the inhabitants of the city faced with the Japanese approaching. I highly recommend this book for its informative take and for bringing the case of Pamela Werner to the fore.