Midnight in Peking is a true crime book by Paul French concerning the 1937 murder of Pamela Werner in Peking. It was first published by Penguin Australia in association with Penguin China in 2011 and has since been published by Penguin Books in the UK and by Penguin Group USA. It has appeared on international best seller lists including the New York Times Best Seller list [1] and the South China Morning Post Best Seller List. Additionally the book was adapted for radio by BBC Radio 4 .
The victim was Pamela Werner, 19-year-old daughter of retired British consul E. T. C. Werner and academic resident in Peking. Her killing and mutilation while cycling home from an evening of ice skating remain unsolved. The expatriate community in Peking were shocked at the crime which, without specific evidence, was variously attributed to a Japanese secret society or an American organized sex ring. An Englishman resident in China claimed to have been informed by Japanese military officers that Werner's death was in retaliation for the killing of a Japanese soldier by British soldiers in a drunken brawl. Although the source was a known eccentric, British diplomats provisionally accepted this account while not taking the matter further. [2]
Kudos Film and Television have plans for an onscreen adaptation of Midnight in Peking as a miniseries. [3] The Executive Producer of the TV adaptation is Ollie Madden. [4]
Harlan Coben is an American writer of mystery novels and thrillers. The plots of his novels often involve the resurfacing of unresolved or misinterpreted events in the past, murders, or fatal accidents and have multiple twists. Nine of his novels have been adapted into Netflix series.
Robert Crais is an American author of detective fiction. Crais began his career writing scripts for television shows such as Hill Street Blues, Cagney & Lacey, Quincy, Miami Vice and L.A. Law. His writing is influenced by Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Ernest Hemingway, Robert B. Parker and John Steinbeck. Crais has won numerous awards for his crime novels. Lee Child has cited him in interviews as one of his favourite American crime writers. The novels of Robert Crais have been published in 62 countries and are bestsellers around the world. Robert Crais received the Ross Macdonald Literary Award in 2006 and was named Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America in 2014.
Sujata Massey is an American mystery author and historical fiction novelist. Her books are published in English in the US and Canada, the United Kingdom and India, and Australia/New Zealand. Massey’s novels are also available in different languages and formats in Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain and Thailand.
Tess Gerritsen is the pseudonym of Terry Gerritsen, an American novelist and retired general physician.
Ken Bruen is an Irish writer of hardboiled and noir crime fiction.
The Macavity Awards, established in 1987, are a literary award for mystery writers. Nominated and voted upon annually by the members of the Mystery Readers International, the award is named for the "mystery cat" of T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. The award is given in four categories—best novel, best first novel, best nonfiction, and best short story. The Sue Feder Historical Mystery has been given in conjunction with the Macavity Awards.
Dana Cameron is an American archaeologist, and author of award-winning crime fiction and urban fantasy.
Rennie Airth is a South African novelist who currently resides in Italy. Airth has also worked as foreign correspondent for the Reuters news service.
Tana French is an American-Irish writer and theatrical actress. She is a longtime resident of Dublin, Ireland. Her debut novel In the Woods (2007), a psychological mystery, won the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, and Barry awards for best first novel. The Independent has referred to her as "the First Lady of Irish Crime".
Edward Theodore Chalmers Werner (1864–1954) was a British diplomat in Qing Dynasty China and sinologist specialising in superstition, myths and magic in China.
Paul French is a British author. In addition to articles about a range of subjects, he has specialised in books about modern Chinese history and contemporary Chinese society, including the murder mystery Midnight in Peking.
Jane K. Cleland is a contemporary American author of mystery fiction. She is the author of the Josie Prescott Antiques Mysteries, a traditional mystery series set in New Hampshire and featuring antiques appraiser Josie Prescott, as well as books and articles about the craft of writing. Cleland has been nominated for and has won numerous awards for her writing.
The Bottoms is an Edgar Award-winning suspense novel by American author Joe R. Lansdale.
Susan Elia MacNeal is an American author best known for her Maggie Hope mystery series of novels, which are set during World War II, mainly in London.
Rebecca Cantrell is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. She has published nine novels in over ten different languages. Her novels have won the ITW Thriller, the Macavity, and the Bruce Alexander awards. They have been nominated for the GoodReads Choice award, the Barry, the RT Reviewers Choice, and the APPY award. She and her husband and son live in Berlin.
Daniel Stashower is an American author and editor of mystery fiction and historical nonfiction. He lives in Maryland.
On the morning of 8 January 1937, the severely mutilated body of Pamela Werner was found near the Fox Tower in Beijing, China, just outside the city's Legation Quarter. The only child of sinologist and retired British diplomat E. T. C. Werner, Pamela had last been seen by acquaintances just before leaving a skating rink the previous night. No one was ever charged in the case.
Edith Maxwell is an Agatha Award-winning American mystery author also currently writing as Maddie Day. She writes cozy, traditional, and historical mysteries set in the United States.
Catriona McPherson is a Scottish writer. She is best known for her Dandy Gilver series. Her novels have won an Agatha Award (2012), two Macavity Awards, seven Lefty Awards (2013), and two Anthony Awards (2014).
Matt Coyle is an American author of crime fiction, best known for his Rick Cahill mystery series.