Ian Hamilton ups the ante with two books: the latest Ava Lee novel, and the first instalment in a new series

BY DORY CERNY

The Goddess of Yantai

Ian Hamilton

Spiderline

Fate: The Lost Decades of Uncle Chow Tung

Ian Hamilton

Spiderline

WHEN THE first Ava Lee novel was published in 2011, it introduced a character who was fresh and atypical: a lesbian Chinese-Canadian forensic accountant and martial arts master who dresses in Brooks Brothers suits and spends her time lying around the world in an effort to retrieve her clients’ stolen funds. Eight years and 11 books (12 if you count the ebook prequel) later, Ava is still the straight-shooting, globe-trotting operative with nerves of steel. But in The Goddess of Yantai, Ian Hamilton’s latest instalment of the series, Ava’s personal and professional lives collide in a manner that shakes the usually unlappable character.

In Beijing to help broker a business deal, Ava takes the opportunity to spend time with Pang Fai, the beautiful actress with whom she started a relationship months before. After attending the premiere of Fai’s latest movie, Ava is shocked to find her lover in a state of distress: it seems Fai is in danger of being blacklisted by the authoritative China Movie Syndicate.

Fai’s fate is in the hands of fickle and powerhungry Syndicate chairman Mo, who expects sexual favours from the willowy actress in exchange for releasing her newest movie and ensuring her future projects get funding. While Fai has engaged in such deals in the past, her relationship with Ava and growing maturity have her resisting Mo’s demands. But the prospect of losing everything she’s worked for is devastating. When a secretly filmed sex tape of Fai with another woman results in a blackmail call, it’s up to Ava to figure out who is behind it and how the threats are related while simultaneously rescuing Fai from her own past.