Midnight in Peking

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Midnight in Peking by Paul French: 1. Murder

1. Murder

Midnight in Peking by Paul French

BBC Radio 4 - Midnight in Peking by Paul French, 1. Murder

A scandalous murder mystery, mired in conspiracy and corruption, that haunted Old Peking.

1937: The scandalous murder mystery mired in conspiracy and corruption in colonial Peking’s dying days. Read by Crawford Logan

On a frozen night in January 1937, in the dying days of colonial Peking, the body of a young woman was found in the shadows of a haunted watchtower. 

It was Pamela Werner, the daughter of the city's former British consul Edward Werner. 

A horrified world followed the hunt for Pamela's killer but the police investigation drew a blank and the case was forgotten amid the carnage of the Japanese invasion. 

Only Pamela's father carried on, employing a network of private investigators to follow the murder trail into Peking's notorious Badlands and back to the gilded hotels of the colonial Quarter.

75 years later, deep in the Scotland Yard archives, British historian Paul French accidentally came across the lost case file prepared by Edward Werner and, through his fresh eyes, uncovered the killer's identity.

Paul French's evocative account of the end of an era spent seven weeks in the South China Morning Post's Top 10 bestsellers list.

Abridged in five parts by Robin Brooks.

Read by Crawford Logan.

Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2012.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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A scandalous murder mystery, mired in conspiracy and corruption, that haunted Old Peking

Crawford Logan reads the details of a scandalous murder mystery, mired in conspiracy and corruption, that haunted the last days of Old Peking

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Midnight in Peking by Paul French

1. Murder

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