John Dudley Ball

The body of an elderly Chinese importer of rare jade lies on the carpet of a quietly expensive house in Pasadena, California. In a rough semicircle around his head rest four pieces of jade; protruding from the heart is a fifth- the Ya-Chang ritual knife. Who murdered the importer? Was it Yumeko, the beautiful half-black, half-Japanese girl who lived with him? Johnny Wu, a rich Chinese-American? Another customer? Or a political enemy from overseas?...

A small town Southern sheriff finds himself in an uneasy alliance with a big-city black homicide detective as they investigate a murder