To the End

Yellowthread Street #16

by William Marshall

Even the historic end of British Colonial Rule doesn't stop the eccentric crime that always overwhelms Hong Kong's Yellowthread Street precinct. Detective Chief Inspector Harry Feiffer is trying to deduce whether an unfortunate janitor was the intended target of a deadly blast of buckshot that cut him cleanly in half. Meanwhile, Detectives Spencer and Auden are convinced they've come face-to-face with the Curse of the Mummy's Tomb, or the side effects of too much overtime. And Inspector O'Yee is eagerly awaiting the arrival of his new boss with the catchy title: Colonel Claude Kong of the Chinese People's Police.

Genres: Mystery

230 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1998

About the author

William 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.

Reviews

[John Hellinikakis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another of William Marshall quirky Yellowthread Street detective books set in Hong Kong. In fact the final one, published in 1998. The storyline is actually good, but the backdrop of chaos during the Handover (1997), does not represent what actually occurred, which spoilt it a bit for me. I suspect that this was written before the Handover, even though it was published a year later. Nevertheless, if you are a fan of the Yellowthread Street series and invested in the characters, Feiffer, O'Yee, Auden, and Spencer, then it is not to be missed.

[Selden T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great sleeper mystery noir story

Loved the characters and plotting. Many surprises in the telling. Keeps up the suspense until the very end. Great on Chinese culture & the history around the hand-over of Hong Kong

[Andrew Clutterbuck · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank god it’s not wasting paper-kindle edition

One of the worst books I’ve ever had the misfortune to read... had high hopes as have been to HK many times and enjoy a detective story-disjointed from the start and got even worse with time, a portion of my life has been lost

[A.M. Steiner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fitting and moving end to William Marshall's madcap Yellowthread Street series.

[Deirdre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Parts of this are fantastical, laugh-out-loud, fall-off-your-chair funny. Taking place during the last day before the Chinese takeover of Hong Kong, there are murders and mysteries that still need solving by the very last of the detectives who remain. Is the bad guy a Chinese Communist, a Tong member... or someone else?

I was so pleased to discover this new-to-me Australian writer I looked him up, only to find out he has died. Luckily, he has written four or five other books I can get my hands on, like the first in this Yellowthread Street series.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the last in the fantastic series of Yellowthread Street police procedurals. I was lucky enough to stumble upon William Marshall's e-mail address early in the digital age, 2001 or so and sent him a gushing letter professing my love of this series and of his writing in general... I had a throw-away line in there that said something to the effect of "I wish I had come upon your work earlier.. so much would have changed". Well, that opened up the flood gates, Mr. Marshall mailed me back inquiring about what I had meant by the statement and I explained that reading virtually his entire cataloge in a matter of months spoiled me a bit.. if I had the pleasure of reading them as they were released, each work would have settled a bit before the next dose of awesome. We wrote back and forth for a few weeks and for that I am eternally grateful. Read these books.