Chinatown Beat

Chinatown Beat

by Henry Chang

Soho Crime, HK$172

It wouldn't be a police procedural without staccato sentences, impolite sex, hardcore violence and cops with tough exteriors but tortured consciences. Although Chinatown Beat conforms to type, it loosens the straitjacket to give the reader noir crime fiction that has room for more than the genre normally offers. Henry Chang's literary debut introduces NYPD detective Jack Yu, a Chinese-American born and raised in Chinatown who returns to his 'hood' to make a difference. This is where triad blood brothers mix with whores, and fortune-tellers aid the police. Crime isn't so much underground as behind walls the community has put up to set itself apart. So when a 10-year-old girl is assaulted by a serial rapist, her family hesitates in seeking help. But Yu speaks their language, so is given entree to investigate this and other felonies, including the murder of a local crime lord. Culture adds flavour to the story hotpot, but Chang, who grew up in Chinatown and continues to live there, overdoes the use of Chinese terms where their English equivalents would suffice.