Jack Caffery
crime thriller
Series · crime fiction
China Thrillers
The China Thrillers series by Peter May has 7 known books (7 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with The Firemaker (1999). The latest book with a fully recorded publication date is The Ghost Marriage. The series is complete.
- Books
- 7 known books (6 novels + 1 novella)
- Published
- 7
- First published
- 1999
- Status
- complete
- Shelved under
- Mystery & Crime
- Last checked
Start here: The Firemaker (1999) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
The Firemaker
The Firemaker opens Peter May's China Thrillers in 1999, introducing Beijing homicide detective Li Yan and American forensic pathologist Margaret Campbell, whose professional rivalry over Western crime-scene techniques becomes a reluctant partnership. At 432 pages, it establishes the Beijing police-bureaucracy setting May researched with rare access to China.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Firemaker - Book 2:
The Fourth Sacrifice
The Fourth Sacrifice followed the next year, in 2000, running 411 pages, continuing Li Yan and Margaret Campbell's case-by-case partnership as Peter May's portrait of 1990s Beijing -- its politics, forensic science, and collision of tradition with rapid modernisation -- deepens.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Fourth Sacrifice - Book 3:
The Killing Room
The Killing Room came out the same year, 2000, as the third entry, at 412 pages -- almost identical in length to The Fourth Sacrifice -- continuing Li and Margaret's investigations inside Beijing's Ministry of Public Security.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Killing Room - Book 4:
Snakehead
Snakehead arrived in 2002, two years later, at 400 pages, the fourth book in the series, keeping Li Yan and Margaret Campbell's relationship developing underneath the case-of-the-book structure that runs through the whole series.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Snakehead - Book 5:
The Runner
The Runner followed in 2003, growing to 440 pages -- the longest novel in the series -- continuing Peter May's Beijing-set procedurals as Li and Margaret's partnership moves closer toward becoming a couple.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Runner - Book 6:
Chinese Whispers
Chinese Whispers closed out the six original novels in 2004, running 393 pages, seemingly ending the series until Peter May brought Li and Margaret back over a decade later in the novella The Ghost Marriage.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Chinese Whispers - Book 7:
The Ghost Marriage
The Ghost Marriage returned to the series much later, on May 19, 2016 -- twelve years after Chinese Whispers -- and unlike the six novels before it, is a 41-page novella.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Ghost Marriage
About the China Thrillers series
Before Peter May found fame with the Lewis Trilogy, he wrote six novels (plus a later novella) set inside Beijing's police bureaucracy, pairing Li Yan, a senior detective in the Ministry of Public Security, with Margaret Campbell, an American forensic pathologist who arrives to lecture on Western crime-scene techniques and ends up investigating alongside him. May researched the series with a rare degree of access to China during a period when the country was still largely closed to Western writers, and the books work as much as a portrait of 1990s and 2000s Beijing -- its politics, its forensic science, its collision of tradition and rapid modernisation -- as they do as police procedurals. The relationship between Li and Margaret, professional rivals who become reluctant partners and eventually a couple, runs underneath the case-of-the-book structure across the whole series.
A seventh, shorter entry, the novella The Ghost Marriage, brought Li and Margaret back in 2016, more than a decade after Chinese Whispers had seemingly closed the series, catching up with them as parents navigating the same demanding careers.
Frequently asked questions
How many China Thrillers are there?
Six full-length novels (1999-2004) plus a shorter 2016 novella, The Ghost Marriage, that returns to the same characters.
Who are the main characters?
Li Yan, a Beijing homicide detective, and Margaret Campbell, an American forensic pathologist -- their case-by-case partnership and personal relationship develop across the series.
Do I need to read these before the Lewis Trilogy or Enzo Files?
No, the three series are unconnected -- different characters, different settings -- and can be read in any order relative to each other.
Is The Ghost Marriage a full novel?
No, it's a novella (around 40 pages), originally published as an ebook.
If you like the China Thrillers series
Reading order last verified .