Paul French (PF): Fake news! I've always been fascinated by Beijing and have never stopped writing about it. Midnight in Peking, Badlands: Decadent Playground of Old Peking, Destination Peking, Peking Noir.what's so special about Beijing? The Beijinger (TBJ): So for a guy who is not particularly in love with Beijing, it seems to keep drawing you back. French talked to the Beijinger about why the city's history still captivates him. Since then, he's followed up with Badlands: Decadent Playground of Old Peking, and now starts 2021 with two new Northern Capital offerings: Destination Peking, a look at the lives of 18 Beijingers of note from the first half of the 20th century, and Peking Noir, a BBC Radio 3 docudrama, also available as a podcast.
Midnight in Peking deserves a place alongside both these masters.Since the 2012 publication of the bestselling Midnight in Peking, Paul French has been linked to Beijing, or at least some historical iteration of it.
"A crime story set among sweeping events is reminiscent of Graham Greene, particularly The Third Man, while French's terse, tightly-focussed style has rightly been compared to Chandler. "Part historical docudrama, part tragic opera tells this sorry tale with the skill of an Agatha Christie." The Financial Times "In today's Beijing, French's portrait feels surprisingly germane." The Los Angeles Times French succeed in solving the crime, he resurrects a period that was filled with glitter as well as evil, but was never, as readers will appreciate, known for being dull." The Economist "⁚ compulsively readable true crime work in the tradition of Devil in the White City." The " Midnight in Peking is true-crime writing at its best, full of vivid characters, an exotic locale, secrets galore, and a truly bewildering mystery." The Christian Science Monitor " the most talked-about read in town this year." The New Yorker's Page-Turner Blog This is a genre-breaker that captures the atmosphere of 1930s Peking." The Bookseller "A page-turning and fascinating true crime book.
is a wonderfully dexterous guide" Jonathan Spence in The New York Review of Books
" Midnight in Peking is both a detective story and a social history, and therefore as it should always keeps the hunt for Pamela's killers somewhere near the center of the narrative. "Never less than fascinating one of the best portraits of between-the-wars China that has yet been written." The Wall Street Journal
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