Yellowthread Street (A Rinehart suspense novel) [Hardcover]

William Leonard Marshall (Author)

Book Description

Series: A Rinehart suspense novel | Publication Date: 1976

The Hong Bay district of Hong Kong is seediness writ large, a spectacularly chaotic warren of cut-rate brothels and betting shops and other less wholesome enterprises. Keeping the peace – sort of – are the cops of the Yellowthread Street Station, under the jaundiced eye of Detective Chief Inspector Harry Feiffer. They’re an intrepid (if foul-mouthed) bunch, but even their formidable skills are taxed by the Bay’s latest series of little mishaps, which begins with a fellow near the fishmarket chopping up his wife with an axe. Meanwhile, notorious madam Hot Time Alice Ping and her leg-breaker, Osaka the Disemboweler, are plotting revenge on the Mongolian, a giggling, freelance extortionist whose glee at hacking off fingers and other non-essential bits is terrifying the neighborhood shopkeepers. It all adds up to a breathless night, culminating in a frenzied three-way battle against Hong Kong’s neon backdrop. And then there’s the tourist from New Jersey who seems to have misplaced his wife . . . The 1st Yellowthread Street mystery

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Marshall works up some unusually funny situations . . . he is an inspired poet of the bizarre” – New York Times --New York TImes

“For a truly good detective story, the Yellowthread Street mysteries can’t be beat” – Chicago Herald --Chicago Herald

“Highly recommended” – Boston Globe --Boston Globe --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 122 pages
• Publisher: Holt, Rinehart and Winston; First Printing edition (1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0030168368
• ISBN-13: 978-0030168369
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,051,249 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The first Yellowthread Street murder mystery, December 13, 2001

By 

Gary Knoke (Sterling, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Yellowthread Street (Paperback)

This was the first in the series of ficitonal murder mysteries set in Hong Bay, Hong Kong. Protected by Detective Chief Inspector Harry Fieffer, Detective Inspector Christopher O'Yee, and Detectives Phil Auden and Bill Spencer, Hong Bay seems to be an authentic, frenzied, violent part of Hong Kong. While the station deals with a 'lost' American tourist and his harridan wife, more serious crime intrudes, with a Mongolian who is demanding 'protection' from local merchants, and attacking those who resist. The denouement is typical Marshall, a combination of fast action, violence, and chaos, with chaos being the most prominent factor. In this book, Spencer is the 'new guy', and Marshall convincingly shows us how Spencer has a difficult time fitting in with the other detectives. But as experienced Yellowthread Street readers know, the detectives prevail---at a price. Marshall is the pre-eminent writer of humorous, suspenseful police procedurals writing these days, and I am continually impressed by his expertise. Long may the detectives of Hong Bay continue to fascinate us!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome back to Yellowthread Street series, June 13, 2008

By 

Bill Pen (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Yellowthread Street (Yellow Thread Street In Hk) (Paperback)

William Marshall is one of the most amazing detective novelists in the business. His prose style is distinguished by being deliberately disjointed in a post-modern way, and his books have lots of strange violence and knowledge of weird local customs. Read all the books in this series and also in his Manilla Bay series. They are astonishing, vivid books, brief, not hard to read, but exhilarating. While Hong Kong as it then was has changed a bit, dating the books a little, I'm excited to have them back in print.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hardboiled, December 18, 2007

By 

Miran Ali "I don't like anonymous reviewers" (Dhaka, Bangladesh) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Yellowthread Street (Yellow Thread Street In Hk) (Paperback)

Do you like your police procedurals hard boiled? Do ya? Huh? Well if you do, they don't come much more hard boiled than this. As a matter of fact, the publishers will even remind you, as you start the book, how hard boiled it is. The publishers are hard boiled too. Set in mid-70's Hong Kong, you'll be reminded of "Enter the Dragon" and the scenes set at the "Bottoms Up Club" in the Bond flick "Man with the Golden Gun". A very light book, you'll finish it in one evening. Actually reads more like a hard boiled graphic novel. Light as easy, airport reading material.