The Case of the Chinese Boxes

Rating:
Summary: Smooth Australian feisty femme PI tale
Review: The setting-Sydney,especially its less public face-helps set this novel apart from the competitors in the women PI market.Otherwise it is capable,moderately enjoyable but not terribly distinctive.
Narrated ,as before,by Claudia Valentine,a charcter with obvious affinities to other women investigators-tall,feisty,independent-the tale takes place for the most part in the city,s Chinatown.Claudia is hired by the redoutable Mrs Chen to trace an antique key stolen during the course of a major bank robbery.She does not get a clear run at the case however as James Ho,a Hong Kong based private eye,is also searching for the key believing it to be the key to boxes containing priceless religious artefacts.The case takes her into the world of the Triads,and soon comes to involce drug trafficing and protection racketeering
The fate of the key soon assumes a secondary role in a plot which soon comes to revolve around the kidnapping of Mrs Chen's grandchild by Triad members.
The Chinese characters are somewhat stereotypically depicted and the portarait of the role of organised crime in Australia,notably its immigration policy,will not please the nation's tourist or PR people.
Strong sense of place,lively plot and decent action but a bit routine
Recommended as a break from the American-UK writers who dominate the genre