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Yellowthread Street #14
Inches
In an air-conditioned bank in a Hong Kong shopping mall nine figures lay sprawled - untouched, seemingly uninjured, and very dead. A Rapid Response Team commander, fearing that his unit's forced entry into the building is responsible for the deaths, has gone into shock. And Detective Chief Inspector Harry Feiffer is soon to learn that he is up against the perfect crime.
While Feiffer begins his investigation into an inscrutable case of mass murder - or was it mass suicide? - Detective Senior Inspector O'Yee is disguised as an Average Street Lunatic, wandering the streets of Hong Kong Bay in rags. His assignment, as given to him by the shadowy mastermind RTG-68, is to scrawl the word "Eternity" on the sidewalks of Tiger Street Road in ancient and finely wrought calligraphy, and, armed with yellow chalk and a coat hanger, not to take any action whatsoever. O'Yee is sure that RTG-68 has assigned him this miserable, existential task - one without a purpose, suspect, or clue - as a form of punishment. But is it the case?
Across town, Detective Inspectors Auden and Spencer enter the Institute of the Inner Yu, to find out why enlightenment-seeking clients have been hurling themselves out of the 18th-floor windows. What the detectives encounter are a variety of fantasy-role-playing scenarios gone berserk, the hideous terror of modern dentistry, and an epic duel with dive-bombing seagulls.
A great mystery, a manic comedy and a thought-provoking social commentary, Inches is a William Marshall classic - and the most breathtaking and ambitious Yellowthread Street novel to date.
While Feiffer begins his investigation into an inscrutable case of mass murder - or was it mass suicide? - Detective Senior Inspector O'Yee is disguised as an Average Street Lunatic, wandering the streets of Hong Kong Bay in rags. His assignment, as given to him by the shadowy mastermind RTG-68, is to scrawl the word "Eternity" on the sidewalks of Tiger Street Road in ancient and finely wrought calligraphy, and, armed with yellow chalk and a coat hanger, not to take any action whatsoever. O'Yee is sure that RTG-68 has assigned him this miserable, existential task - one without a purpose, suspect, or clue - as a form of punishment. But is it the case?
Across town, Detective Inspectors Auden and Spencer enter the Institute of the Inner Yu, to find out why enlightenment-seeking clients have been hurling themselves out of the 18th-floor windows. What the detectives encounter are a variety of fantasy-role-playing scenarios gone berserk, the hideous terror of modern dentistry, and an epic duel with dive-bombing seagulls.
A great mystery, a manic comedy and a thought-provoking social commentary, Inches is a William Marshall classic - and the most breathtaking and ambitious Yellowthread Street novel to date.
- GenresMystery
287 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1994
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About the author
William Marshall
258 books29 followersWilliam Marshall (or William Leonard Marshall) (born 1944, Australia) is an Australian author, best known for his Hong Kong-based "Yellowthread Street" mystery novels, some of which were used as the basis for a British TV series.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 8, 2016
Hong Kong procedural; a little too "zany" for my taste.
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