Stealing the Dragon

by Tim Maleeny

I bought this book at a library conference here in Twinsburg, Back to the Book, where the author, Tim Maleeny, spoke about his new book, read a chapter for the group, and answered questions. After hearing one chapter, I was intrigued and bought a book on the spot and had it signed by the author, "Beth - Enjoy the Trip to Chinatown - Tim Maleeny".

With the holiday season upon us, and two other book groups to read for, this was purely a pleasure read - and what a pleasure it was! To give you an idea of how much I enjoyed this book, I snuck away for a few minutes at a time during Thanksgiving dinner to read a little bit more of the story, finishing it at 1 am in the morning. This is especially strange for me because I have read no other mysteries, save the Stephanie Plum series and JoAnn Fluke - very cozy reads.

Cape Weathers is a private investigator who is investigating the murder of the crew of a Chinese refugee ship that ran aground in San Francisco bay. At the same time, his friend Sally, a highly trained assassin raised by the Triads since she was a little girl, has also gone missing. Without Sally to watch his back, his dealings with the Chinese has not been as easy, yet he manages to get help from Freddie Wang, a low-life mafia type, and a few other friends in the Police department and other areas of law enforcement. Someone is out to get Cape as he digs further into the investigation, so far that he ends up with a dead body in his trunk. Each chapter is interspersed with the story of Sally's upbringing and training in the school for the Triads, where she was called "Little Dragon". So, along with the suspense of the investigation, you learn more about Sally's story, which is fascinating. I found Cape, the main character, delightfully sarcastic and found myself chuckling at many parts of the story at his antics. To sum it up, this book is funny, suspenseful, unpredictable, and a very fast read. I would love to see it made into a motion picture or a television series, or at the very least, into an audiobook so that I can hear the many unique voices of the characters. A must read! Looking forward to reading the next in the Cape Weather's series.