Peter King, The Dragon’s Threat, Friesen Press, 2022and Gold Among the Trees, Elite Lizard Publishing, 2023.
Lowertown resident Peter King has now published two works of fiction featuring Peter Holroyd, Professor of Maritime History, and they are page turners. Both books reflect the author’s knowledge of China past and present. And if the ending of the second one is any indication, there is going to be a third book soon.
Professor Holroyd’s specialization in early Chinese voyages takes him into dangerous areas of international and national politics along with the always present hazards of academic competition. While his major interest is finding evidence that the Chinese had reached North America before Columbus, he continues to find himself in a dual role as a professor and a detective embroiled in mysteries and murders by chance.
The Dragon’s Threat pulls Holroyd from his comfortable home in London, England, into a territorial dispute between the British and the Chinese (with some American involvement) over a small island in the South China Sea. During his search for a valuable ancient document, travel in China takes him deep into the country’s complex culture and politics. Suffice to say, he overcomes the challenges of multiple attempts on his life, missing documents, unexplained dead bodies, a deceitful female travelling companion and other travails.
Gold Among the Trees involves the professor, visiting Canada from England at the time, in a case that links ancient Chinese history and current Canadian events: a murder related to residential school abuse; a mysterious 300-year-old treasure found near the murder site on a First Nations reserve; and Chinese and Canadian businessmen claiming ownership of the treasure. Interspersed with these complexities, he must deal with academic jealousy and scrutiny by the RCMP.