The Slums of Cai

In 656 BC, as Duke Huan of Qi’s army crushes the state of Cai over a concubine’s slight, a walled slum outside the capital descends into a silent slaughter. A principled Qi detective is dispatched to investigate a series of deaths, only to discover that in a place stripped of bread, law is the first thing to starve. His pursuit of the killer will bring a hollow victory—one that leaves the ghetto’s bones bleaching under a just, indifferent sky.