The Touch of Murder Book Cover

The Touch of Murder


A Fantasy Novella


Book 1 of the The Tales of the Magistrate Series


Subgenres & Tropes:

  • Wuxia,
  • Detective Fantasy,
  • Murder Mystery,
  • Jianghu,
  • Noir
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This book is for you if you're into...

  • Irreverent magistrates who solve crimes with swords and sarcasm
  • Wuxia mysteries featuring assassins, conmen, and bureaucratic headaches
  • Detective stories where justice is murky and everyone has secrets
Publisher Description

Sometimes justice punishes the innocent.

If it were up to Magistrate Tao Jun, he would solve every mystery with a sword and a fake name (and maybe a fancy silk robe). So when a missing person becomes a murder investigation, he's (happily) on the case. But all is not as it seems.

As the magistrate digs deeper, he finds: an assassin trying to kill him, a trail of blood, a web of lies, and a conman wanted in two cities. And somehow, in the centre of all this deception, is a girl with a mysterious past...

Well, dodging archers' arrows is more fun than paperwork anyway.

Set amid the Tales of the Swordsman and the Tales of the Jianghu series, this is a detective story with wuxia action (a futou-noir story, if you will). This story follows beloved (and totally corrupt) Magistrate Tao Jun and his dry and irreverent take on the jianghu and the bureaucracy of being a magistrate.

If you like classic wuxia and detective stories, dust off your favorite sword (wipe off those bloodstains—no one needs to see that), and head over to the magistrate's office for THE TOUCH OF MURDER.

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