Publication Date: May 2, 2024
In the muddy streets of the Tang Dynasty’s capital, authorities discover the body of a murdered child. In his left hand, the boy clutches a letter accusing his parents of a terrible crime. In his right hand is a small wooden carving of Leigong, the God of Thunder. Over the following weeks more children are discovered, each holding a letter in one hand, a statue of Leigong in the other.
Since leaving the Emperor’s police force, Ming has led a dull life. He spends his days tutoring young scholars in the Confucian texts, raising his children and tending to his dying wife. But when the murders threaten to plunge the city into chaos, Ming is called upon to rejoin the Gold Bird Guard and stop the terror.
Ming is no stranger to crime, but this time he isn’t tracking a bandit or a thief. To find his killer, Ming must navigate the dizzying world of Chinese bureaucracy and intrigue. He must also learn about Leigong, a fearsome god that wields nature to punish those who harbor secret crimes. As Ming pushes deeper into this mystery, he discovers he must go one step farther. He will have to look into his own past, and confront the sins he has spent years trying to forget.
Hunting a dangerous murderer who only grows bolder, Ming De Wei must partner with his old friend Zhou and new acquaintance Dragon to find the killer before he finds another victim. But the danger is much closer to home in Dynasty of Shadows by Vincent Stoia.
Ming De Wei was a proud member of the Gold Bird Guard. But with his wife’s health failing and his own past haunting him at every turn, he has become a humble tutor. However, when children are found killed in his district, he is brought on to the team in a search for the killer.
Each victim was found with a statue of Leigong, the god of thunder and punisher of hidden sins. Working with his friend Zhou, an imperial Mandarin, Ming is determined to find the killer. Partnering with a rough bounty hunter, Dragon, Ming must search for the murderer in his past. But digging in leaves his family in danger, and the killer’s next victim may be closer to home.
I was very hesitant to pick up this book when I first heard about it. I am not usually into stories from this time period, and I don’t know much about Chinese history. I was afraid this would leave me lost and too much in the weeds to enjoy this book. But I was decidedly wrong.
Stoia does a great job of making this complex setting easy to access, teaching the reader about the culture while keeping the story moving quickly. The content is heavy—anything to do with children can be—but it isn’t graphic and is kept very light on detail so it is still palatable. While I was able to guess the killer, I thought the story was well-written, and it still kept me guessing for a while. I really enjoyed seeing the other characters’ perspectives, adding depth to the story. These characters are not all good, making them much more compelling and believable.
Dynasty of Shadows is an excellent mystery that opens up a culture and time not often explored. With complex characters and an edge-of-your-seat mystery, Stoia weaves a perfect tale.
Vinnie is a novelist and a screenwriter. He grew up in Boston, but he has spent more than fifteen years abroad. He has lived in Australia, Taiwan and Japan. Vinnie’s two previous novels, Jin Village and Dark Blossom, are both horror stories set in China. Most of Vinnie’s prose is horror. As a screenwriter, he tends to write comedies. Horror and comedy may seem like a strange combination to some, but Vinnie respectfully disagrees. After all, both genres come from dark places. His novels and screenplays have placed in prestigious contests, and his short film The House won several first-place awards.
