The Shadow Pavilion

Description

A supernatural detective in Singapore tries to save his wife-and the universe-in this "thoroughly original fantasy" by the author of Snake Agent (Publishers Weekly). Detective Inspector Chen is getting used to visiting Heaven. It is a peaceful place, but the eerie calm and ever-present scent of peaches make him yearn for the chaos of Singapore Three. He has come to visit Mhara, the Emperor of Heaven, who ascended to the celestial throne after his father went mad and launched an ill-advised invasion of Hell. Order has been restored to the cosmos, and Mhara is characteristically serene, but trouble is lurking for this handsome young god. Someone is trying to kill the Emperor of Heaven, and Chen does not have his demonic partner, Zhu Irzh, to fall back on. Zhu Irzh has vanished, Chen's wife is in danger, and a psychotic Bollywood star is on the warpath. It's another day in the office for the occult detective-a day that, if he doesn't restore order quickly, could be the universe's last. The Shadow Pavilion is the fourth of the five Detective Inspector Chen Novels, which begin with Snake Agent and The Demon and the City.

Liz Williams is a science fiction and fantasy writer living in Glastonbury, England, where she is codirector of a witchcraft supply business. The author of seventeen novels and over one hundred short stories, she has been published by Bantam Spectra and Night Shade Books in the US, and by Tor Macmillan in the UK. She was a frequent contributor to Realms of Fantasy, and her writing appears regularly in Asimov's and other magazines. She is the secretary of the Milford SF Writers' Workshop and teaches creative writing and history of science fiction.

"Williams seamlessly blends the occult with modern issues like feminism and illegal immigration to create a thoroughly original fantasy." -Publishers Weekly "This exotic amalgam of police procedural, SF, comic fantasy and horror is a delight from start to finish." -Locus on Snake Agent "[Williams] turns the conventions of good and evil on their ear and gives them a sharp boot in the rear." -Jay Lake, author of Rocket Science, on The Demon and the City