Book review- The Chinese Alchemist

I celebrated the  Chinese New Year with Chinese food, and Lyn Hamilton's wonderful The Chinese Alchemist.  This is a very interesting read- lots of Chinese culture and history, which made it perfect for Chinese New Year!  I love this kind of mystery, where one learns a great deal about a subject one might not otherwise  know about.  Most of the book takes place in China, as the main character, Lara McClintoch, an antiques dealer, tracks down  a T'ang dynasty silver box.  Interesting back story woven into the book gives a insight to Chinese culture and history.  I thought the back story was nicely done, blending in smoothly with the present day narrative.  The depictions  of the places in China that McClintoch visits- Beijing, and Xi'an, are beautifully described.  I thought the characters were well drawn  as well.

 I was sad to find out that this is the last book in this series- Ms. Hamilton passed away not long after this book was published.  There are eleven books altogether in her Archaeological Mystery series.  I look forward to reading other books in this series.

The Lara McClintoch Archaeological Mysteries:
The Xibalba Murders (1997)
The Maltese Goddess (1998)
The Moche Warrior (1999)
The Celtic Riddle (2000)
The African Quest (2001)
The Etruscan Chimera (2002)
The Thai Amulet (2003)
The Magyar Venus (2004)
The Moai Murders (2005)
The Orkney Scroll (2006)
The Chinese Alchemist (2007)