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Brian Klingborg Books In Order

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Publication Order of Inspector Lu Fei Mysteries Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Kill Devil Falls (2017)Description / Buy at Amazon

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

The Secrets of Northern Shaolin Kung-Fu (With: Lai Hung) (1998)Description / Buy at Amazon
Szechuan Cooking (1999)Description / Buy at Amazon

Brian Klingborg
Author Brian Klingborg is a graduate of Harvard’s Regional Studies East Asia program and studied Chinese folk religion. After Harvard, he plunged into the publishing world, becoming a Sr. Vice President at an education publisher.

In addition to his fiction work, he has written widely on Chinese martial arts. He has also written for the Winx Club animated television series before turning to crime fiction.

Brian spent a year abroad in Taiwan, then went to a graduate school studying cultural anthropology with a China focus. He returned to Taiwan, where he worked and lived for many more years. Since then, he has continued his sporadic exploration of Chinese history, culture, and language. While writing “Thief of Souls”, he did a ton of additional research.

Brian finds the act of writing to be a frustrating and difficult process, however he likes to tell stories and believes he has a few that are worth sharing. When he is able to get one down onto paper in a half-way decent manner, there’s an enormous feeling of accomplishment at having created something that is tangible out of the ether or fog of his own imagination.

He admires and attempts emulating writers that write expressively and simply. Elmore Leonard, who once said that ‘said’ is the only word that should be used to carry dialogue, which makes him a writer after Brian’s own heart. Cormac McCarthy, for the most part, is a writer able to communicate a whole entire universe in just a few simple words.

Lu Fei came to him first while writing “Thief of Souls”. Brian was originally intending on writing a mystery series set in another fascinating country he’s visited a lot: Vietnam. His initial concept was to follow this Vietnamese police inspector while he juggles criminals, corrupt cops, US military, the CIA, Chinese gangs, politicians, and Vietcong in Saigon from about 1968 to 1975.

While researching the politics and history of this period, he had an epiphany. Why not just leverage his existing language skills and previous studies to write about a cop in China? His goal was to create a protagonist that was relatable and likable, yet also still an accurate reflection of a culture and way of thinking which isn’t the same as Brian’s own.

Brian’s debut novel, called “Kill Devil Falls”, was released in the year 2017 . His work is from the mystery genre.

“Kill Devil Falls” is the first stand alone novel and was released in the year 2017. US Marshal Helen Morrissey is given the task of collecting a fugitive bank robber from some isolated town in the Sierra Nevadas, she braces to a have a rough trip. After all, the town has a name like Kill Devil Falls, so her destination just has to be a total hellhole. It ends up being worse than she imagined. A lot worse.

After she barely survives a white-knuckle drive in what she suspects is a sabotaged car, she gets stuck in a virtual ghost town that is populated by just a handful of outcasts and oddballs. However it is not until her prisoner winds up dead that Helen knows that she is in some real trouble. There are secrets buried under Kill Devil Falls’ surface. Secrets that are worth killing over.

This is a scary suspense story, and Klingborg is sure to hold your attention the entire time with this deliciously creepy novel. Readers found this to be a rocky thrill ride of a read and loved every moment of it. This is a refreshing and unpredictable main character, and the sort of heroine that is a lot more needed in novels today. Brian gets the story going quickly and it never lets up until the satisfying conclusion, and he keeps it fun with some unique characters. His writing is clear, sophisticated, and well crafted, and his descriptive talents bring you right into this mysterious and dark Northern California town.

“Thief of Souls” is the first novel in the “Inspector Lu Fei Mystery” series and was released in the year 2021. A brutal killing of a young woman in a rural village located in Northern China sends some shockwaves all the way to Beijing. However it is only Inspector Lu Fei, who lives in exile in this small town, who is actually interested in justice for this victim.

He is a graduate of China’s top police college, however he has been assigned to some sleepy backwater town in Northern China, where a major crime wave is the theft of some chickens and next to nothing goes on. Until a young woman is discovered dead, with her heart, liver, and lungs all having been removed and some joss paper crammed into her mouth.

The CID in Beijing, which is headed by a political darling on the rise, is working on the case. However in an increasingly authoritarian China, political stability and prosperity are much more important than solving an insignificant village girl’s murder. As a result, the CID head is more interested in pinning this crime on the first available suspect rather than actually wading into some uncomfortable truths, which leaves Lu Fei all on his own.

While Lu starts to dig deeper into the grisly killing, he finds he is facing off against some old foes and creating some new ones in the form of corrupt business interests and some local Communist Party bosses. Despite these obstacles, he is always determined to locate the true murderer, particularly after linking the killing to some other unsolved homicides. However while getting closer to the heart of this mystery, the more that he puts himself and his loved ones in danger.

This is an atmospheric and engrossing novel, taking us through the dirty snow of a Chinese province in the hunt for a serial killer. Lu Fei understands the power of the past, quotes Confucius, and navigates backhanding and corruption among Chairman Mao’s descendants. A novel that features a unique setting, a fast paced story, and a fantastic protagonist, this is everything that you could ever want in a novel.

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