AustLit

'For the first time in 3,000 years no emperor sits on the Dragon Throne. China is a seething cauldron of vice and corruption. Soon the Japanese will invade, and China will bleed like never before. In the eye of the storm sits the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong, jewel of the South China Sea.Like Hong Kong itself, Inspector Richard Brewster, an idealistic young Englishman, struggles to survive in the maelstrom of war and political upheaval that is China in the 1920s and 30s.Pirates and triad societies risk the wrath of the Kuo Min Tang army in a murderous hunt for a fabled treasure. Within the very ranks of the Hong Kong Police Force itself, desperate young men form a triad for their mutual protection. The illegal secret society becomes a malevolent dragon, spreading its wings to cast a shadow of evil across half the world.From the pirate enclaves of the South China Sea to the opulent mansions of Victoria Peak; from the Japanese invasion of Shanghai to the vicious aerial combat of the Battle of Britain; Richard Brewster's life spins out of control in a world of passion, corruption and intrigue.Between the World Wars was a time of great social change… it was a time of violence and political upheaval… it was… The Time of the Dragons.' (Publication summary)