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A Sergeants Sueño and Bascom Novel
by Martin Limon
Sergeants Sueño and Bascom return see an underwhelming case transform into one of their most challenging mysteries to date.
South Korea, 1974. US Army CID Sergeants George Sueño and Ernie Bascom are assigned an underwhelming case of petty theft: Major Frederick M. Schulz has accused Miss Jo Kyong-ja, an Itaewon bar girl, of stealing twenty-five thousand won from him - a sum equaling less than fifty US dollars. After two very divergent accounts of what happened, Miss Jo is attacked, and Schulz is found hacked to death only days later. Did tensions simply escalate to the point of murder?
Looking into other motives for Schulz's death, George and Ernie discover that the major was investigating the 501st Military Intelligence Battalion: the Army's counterintelligence arm, solely dedicated to tracking North Korean spies. The division is rife with suspects, but it's dangerous to speak out against them in a period of Cold War finger-pointing. As George and Ernie go head-to-head with the battalion's powerful, intimidating commander, Lance Blood, they learn that messing with the 501st can have very personal consequences.
"Starred Review. Major developments in the lives of Limón's leads complement the intricate whodunit." - Publishers Weekly
"Limón's insights into Korea's history and culture, and into U.S. Army culture, just keep getting richer." - Booklist
"Mystery readers who appreciate exotic settings, both in time and space, and who like quality buddy procedurals will admire Limón's writing." - Library Journal
"Limón's 11th Americans-in-Korea procedural has grit, pace, and an authentic feel." - Kirkus
This information about Ping-Pong Heart was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Martin Limón retired from military service after twenty years in the US Army, including ten years in Korea. He is the author of twelve previous Sueño and Bascom investigations: Jade Lady Burning, Slicky Boys, Buddha's Money, The Door to Bitterness, The Wandering Ghost, GI Bones, Mr. Kill, The Joy Brigade, The Iron Sickle, The Ville Rat, Ping-Pong Heart, and The Nine-Tailed Fox, as well as the short story collection Nightmare Range. He lives near Seattle.
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