''Midnight in Peking'' is a

true crime True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events. The crimes most commonly include murder; about 40 pe ...

novel written by Paul French concerning the 1937

murder of Pamela Werner On the morning of 8 January 1937, the severely mutilated body of Pamela Werner (believed born 7 February 1917) was found near the Fox Tower in Beijing, China, just outside the city's Legation Quarter. The only child of sinologist and retired Br ...

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 ''

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'' Best Seller List and the '' South China Morning Post'' Best Seller List. Additionally the book was adapted for radio by ''

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

''.

Summary

The victim was Pamela Werner, 19-year-old daughter of retired British consul

E. T. C. Werner Edward Theodore Chalmers Werner (1864–1954) was a British diplomat in Qing Dynasty China and sinologist specialising in superstition, myths and magic in China. Early life E.T.C. Werner was born at Port Chalmers, Dunedin, New Zealand. His fathe ...

and academic resident in Peking. Her killing and mutilation while cycling home from an evening of

ice skating Ice skating is the self-propulsion and gliding of a person across an ice surface, using metal-bladed ice skates. People skate for various reasons, including recreation (fun), exercise, competitive sports, and commuting. Ice skating may be per ...

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.

Adaptation

Kudos Film and Television have plans for an onscreen adaptation of ''Midnight in Peking'' as a miniseries. The Executive Producer of the TV adaptation is Ollie Madden.

Awards

* 2013 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime * 2013 Crime Writers' Association Dagger Award for Non-Fiction * 2013

Mystery Readers International Mystery Readers International is a fan/reader organization open to all readers, fans, critics, editors, publishers, and writers of Mystery fiction. It was founded by Janet A. Rudolph in Berkeley, California. It publishes the ''Mystery Readers Jo ...

Macavity Awards The Macavity Awards 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'' ...

for Best Mystery Non-Fiction (nominated) * 2012

Australian Book Industry Awards The Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) are publishers' and literary awards held by the Australian Publishers Association annually in Sydney "to celebrate the achievements of authors and publishers in bringing Australian books to readers". ...

- International Success of the Year, 2012

References and further reading

* .

Notes

External links

Official website for ''Midnight in Peking''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Midnight in Peking Non-fiction crime books 2011 non-fiction books Edgar Award-winning works Works about unsolved crimes 1937 in China Murder in China Books about Beijing Penguin Books books