MAY 18, 2017 // 19
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BOOKMONGER
International intrigue in Sino-U.S. murder mystery
AMAZON.COM
D.C. Alexander is back
with another smart, con-
voluted murder mystery.
“Chasing the Monkey King”
is absorbing enough to dis-
tract you on a cross-country
fl ight bedeviled by air turbu-
lence, or to make you forget
to reapply the sunscreen
when you’re reading it at the
beach.
A former federal agent
and part-time Hansville,
Washington, resident, Al-
exander concocts a tale that
begins in the Puget Sound
region, but quickly expands
to include bureaucratic cov-
er-ups in Washington D.C.
and corrupt trade practices
in China.
The hero is Lars Severin,
a panic attack-prone former
federal agent and self-de-
scribed “alcoholic burnout
looking to make ends meet.”
Recently, that has meant
auditing business records for
an organic foods certifi er.
Dull, dull stuff.
But then a former crony
from Severin’s law enforce-
ment past refers him to a
wealthy Seattle business-
man. Orin Thorvaldsson’s
niece has gone missing in
China while working on
assignment for the U.S.
Department of Commerce.
Chasing the Monkey
King – D.C. Alexander
Createspace
– 262 pp - $7.99
So has her partner. Thor-
valdsson is dissatisfi ed
with the U.S. State Depart-
ment’s inconclusive report
on their disappearance and
wants Severin to investigate
further.
Relatively speaking, this
is a big-bucks alternative to
Severin’s agro-gig, and it
promises to stimulate what’s
left of the gray matter that
he hasn’t yet managed to
pickle, so he takes the job.
He also brings in his old
college roommate, Wal-
lace Zhang, to serve as his
Chinese interpreter. Zhang
is another guy who hasn’t
lived up to his potential.
But as the story goes on, it’s
clear that both men are go-
ing to have to draw on their
long suppressed stores of
resourcefulness to conduct
this inquiry.
They fl y from Seattle
to Washington D.C. to
investigate why the State
Department’s report was
so superfi cial, and quickly
learn – off the record, of
course – that the powers
that be didn’t want the
disappearance of a couple
of mid-level bureaucrats to
interfere with a complicated
and hugely impactful trade
agreement being negotiated
with China.
They also manage to
meet with the missing
niece’s husband, who hap-
pened to be in China at the
time of his wife’s disap-
pearance and who seems
to be more defensive than
aggrieved.
With more questions
raised than answered in
D.C., the duo books a fl ight
for China. There, they
travel from Shanghai with
its gleaming skyscrapers
through rural lands with
rudimentary housing.
In addition to devising
a thoroughly satisfying
plot and a snappy bud-
dy relationship that only
occasionally gets annoying,
Alexander also excels at
scene-setting, describing in
sensory detail the complex-
ity of life in contemporary
China.
Through Zhang, who
is outraged at Severin’s
typically American lack of
interest in Chinese history
and failure to appreciate
China’s current standing, the
author gives readers insights
into the forces that have
been at work in China over
millennia, and that continue
to shape Chinese ambitions
today.
And Alexander also
provides perspectives into
the immensely complicated
nature of trade agreements.
“Chasing the Monkey
King” is entertainment so
involving you won’t realize
you’re being educated, too.
The Bookmonger is Bar-
bara Lloyd McMichael, who
writes this weekly column
focusing on the books, au-
thors and publishers of the
Pacifi c Northwest. Contact
her at bkmonger@nwlink.
com
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[roʊ •də•dɛn•drən]
the French, which in turn was
borrowed verbatim from the Latin,
rhododendron, which is a direct
translation of the Old Greek όδον,
meaning rhódon, or “rose,” plus
δένδρον, meaning déndron, or
“tree,” which means that rhodo-
dendron has literally meant “flower
tree” for over two thousand years.
noun
1. any fl owering shrub
belonging to the genus Rhodo-
dendron, part of the heather
or heath family. Related to
the azalea, the rhododendron
can be either evergreen or
deciduous, is often used for
ornamental planting. And their
charming, bulbous fl owers
— which can bloom in either
white, pink or purple — are
mildly poisonous.
Origin:
Enters English around 1600
borrowed wholesale from
“The largest Pacifi c rhododendron,
R. macrophyllum, is in the garden of Jeff
and Wendy Grant, on the banks of Collard
Lake in Florence, a press release said.”
— “Florence couple has largest
rhododendron ‘tree,’” The World, June 5,
2008, theworldlink.com
“Problem: My rhododendron is
suff ering from root weevil, both adult
and larvae.
Suggestion: Use benefi cial
nematodes; use chemical control as a
last resort.”
—“ Master gardeners hold summer
plant clinic in Ilwaco,” Coast Weekend,
Aug. 17, 2015
word
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503-468-0308
nerd
By RYAN HUME
Rhododendron