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Review: SHADOWS IN CHINATOWN by Jolie Tunnell
- Christina Boyd
- Aug 14
- 3 min read
ABOUT THE BOOK
Karine Kelly’s dream of a fresh start as a mail-order bride in booming 1882 San Francisco becomes a nightmare when her charming Irish husband is murdered on their wedding night. Waking to destitute widowhood and fiercely angry in-laws, she discovers a series of shocking secrets that her husband left behind.
Why did he tell no one about their wedding? Why was a Chinese assailant hunting him and now stalking her? Why do residents in the city shadows seem to know more about her husband than she does? And why does the irritating Detective Max Fisher keep turning up like a bad penny?
Faced with appalling apathy and growing suspicion from the police, Karine’s determined to follow the trail of lies to find justice in a lawless city.
Warily working around each other as the killer strikes again, Karine and Detective Fisher uncover a sinister web of corruption, bigotry, and betrayals that circles ever closer to the jade pendant she wears over her heart—all that’s left of her husband’s pledge—and a ticking bomb that threatens to destroy Chinatown.
OPENING LINES
“That isn’t the Pacific, deary,” the terribly helpful woman seated across from me said.
“That’s only the Bay. But San Francisco isn’t so large a city you can’t go see the ocean any time you’re a mind to.”
GUEST REVIEW by Sophia Rose
From the farm in Minnesota, she comes as a mail-order bride to San Francisco. The ink on the marriage registry is barely dry when her husband is murdered, and the new Mrs. Kelly is left in a bewildering new situation. The need for answers presses as racial tensions rise, and Chinatown is seething.
Jolie Tunnell’s books are not new to me in the form of her quirky Loveda Brown historicals, so I was eager to take up her latest new start to a series, Shadows in Chinatown.
Unlike most mail-order bride tropes, this one isn’t a romance. Or, at least not between the two parties who met and married, and definitely not the focus of the story. I had to keep reminding myself of this because there are darker edges. After the murder, Karine finds herself navigating layers of tension: her strained relationship with her late husband Patrick’s family, with whom she now lives as a grieving widow and outsider from a different background; the broader social friction between the Irish and Chinese communities in bustling Victorian-era San Francisco; and the dangers of investigating a crime as a vulnerable newcomer and woman, especially when powerful individuals stand in her way.
I appreciated the attention to historical details and time period, the cultural elements, and the mature and engaging character of Karine Kelly. Karine was no blushing bride, but a capable woman of thirty whom I admired for how she handled her situation. I enjoyed it when she and Detective Fisher were the underdogs going up against big-time corruption and powerful villains.
All in all, a fabulous start to a new historical mystery series. The capable and intrepid "Mrs. Kelly" series is not to be missed.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Award-winning author Jolie Tunnell brings the past to life in suspenseful historical
mysteries. Bringing the flavor of the turn-of-the-century Wild West to the isolated mountain town of Idyllwild and the writhing underbelly of Old San Francisco, her book gallops to the last page. A Southern California native, she loves her sprawling family, forces her freeloading tomcat to cuddle, and can drink her weight in Yorkshire Gold tea. Sign up for her extraordinary newsletter, get a free book, and settle in for a visit at JolieTunnell.com.
ABOUT SOPHIA ROSE, Guest Reviewer Sophia is a quiet, curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, piano-playing, and gardening. Road trips and campouts, museums and monuments, restaurants, and theaters are her jam. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and a loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, baseball, cats, Scooby Doo, and chocolate. As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing. In 2012, she submitted her first book review and is currently an associate reviewer.
Sophia is a prolific reader and audiobook listener, which allows her to experience many wonderful books, authors, and narrators. Few genres are outside her reading tastes, but her true love is fiction, particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and romance. Sorry, no horror...or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby. Connect with Sophia via FACEBOOK GOODREADS TWITTER
Sounds like a great book! I'll have to check it out, especially because I'm interested in the idea of women as investigators during a time when they didn't have easy mobility and access to information and certain kinds of places. Thanks, Sophia Rose!