The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo

Synopsis :

Some people think foxes are similar to ghosts because we go around collecting qi, but nothing could be further than the truth. We are living creatures, just like you, only usually better looking . . .

Manchuria, 1908.
In the last years of the dying Qing Empire, a courtesan is found frozen in a doorway. Her death is clouded by rumors of foxes, which are believed to lure people by transforming themselves into beautiful women and handsome men. Bao, a detective with an uncanny ability to sniff out the truth, is hired to uncover the dead woman’s identity. Since childhood, Bao has been intrigued by the fox gods, yet they’ve remained tantalizingly out of reach—until, perhaps, now.

Meanwhile, a family who owns a famous Chinese medicine shop can cure ailments but can’t escape the curse that afflicts them—their eldest sons die before their twenty-fourth birthdays. When a disruptively winsome servant named Snow enters their household, the family’s luck seems to change—or does it?

Snow is a creature of many secrets, but most of all she’s a mother seeking vengeance for her lost child. Hunting a murderer, she will follow the trail from northern China to Japan, while Bao follows doggedly behind. Navigating the myths and misconceptions of fox spirits, both Snow and Bao will encounter old friends and new foes, even as more deaths occur.

This is what I say :

This is the first book that I read recently that I completed within 1 week.   I actually saw the title in a bookstore but I managed to get the e-version.

It helps that the story is very interesting and captivating which certainly motivates me in my reading.  It also helps that I really make an effort to read this rather than to watch yet another K-drama.

I like the way it's written, which is from the perspective of Bao in one chapter and Snow in the next chapter.  I also like that while both these characters were focusing on different matters, the whole thing come together after a while and we are able to see the whole story and I was actually pretty excited when Bao and Snow met each other.

This is the second title by this author that I read, the first being The Ghost Bride which I read about 5 years ago.