Synopses & Reviews
As the months went by, Cí learned to tell the differences between accidental wounds and those brought about in an attempt to kill; among the incisions made by hatchets and daggers, kitchen knives, machetes and swords; between a murder and a suicide.Cí, a young scholar-turned-gravedigger in medieval China, has survived enough horrors and pain to last several lifetimes. He finally has the chance to return to his studies — only to receive orders from the Imperial Court to find the sadistic perpetrator of a series of brutal murders. With lives in jeopardy, Cí finds his gruesome investigation complicated by his old loyalties — and by his growing desire for the enigmatic beauty haunting his thoughts. Is he skilled enough to track down the murderer? Or will the killer claim him first?
Synopsis
After his grandfather dies, avid scholar and budding forensic investigator C Song begrudgingly gives up his studies to help his family. But when another tragedy strikes, he's forced to run and also deemed a fugitive. Dishonored, he has no choice but to accept work as a lowly gravedigger, a position that allows him to sharpen his corpse-reading skills. Soon, he can deduce whether a person killed himself--or was murdered.
His prowess earns him notoriety, and C receives orders to unearth the perpetrator of a horrific series of mutilations and deaths at the Imperial Court. C 's gruesome investigation quickly grows complicated thanks to old loyalties and the presence of an alluring, enigmatic woman. But he remains driven by his passion for truth--especially once the killings threaten to take down the Emperor himself.
Inspired by Song C , considered to be the founding father of CSI-style forensic science, this harrowing novel set during the thirteenth-century Tsong Dynasty draws readers into a multilayered, ingenious plot as disturbing as it is fascinating.
The Corpse Reader received the Zaragoza International Prize for best historical novel published in Spain (Premio Internacional de Novela Hist rica Ciudad de Zaragoza). Antonio's previous novel, La Escriba, was published in 2008.