The Bone Ritual

Ruud Pujasumarta has seen some gang-perpetrated horror crimes in his time, but the slum murder of a middle-aged woman he is called to is both horrifying and baffling. Mari Agnes Liem has not only been choked to death while tied to her bed, but the murderer has amputated her left hand and left a mah jong tile in her throat. And he has taken the hand with him.

Ruud's personal life is a disaster - the whole world seems to know that his wife has left him for another man, perhaps because his (ex) mother-in-law keeps on turning up at his office with food for him. The only bright spot on Ruud's horizon is the imminent arrival of Imke Sneijder from Amsterdam, whom he hasn't seen for fifteen years, when they were both twelve-year-old neighbours before her family moved back to Holland.

As Ruud and his department investigate the crime and the others that follow, he begins to realise that the current murderous spree may be linked to events which occurred fifteen years ago, at about the time Imke left Indonesia...

“Julian Lees' lush use of language conjures up the extravagant and the seedy sides of life in modern Jakarta and transports the reader to its steamy slums and palaces, ratcheting up the tension through myriad false trails, keeping the reader enthralled right up until the denouement”

- Crime Fiction Fix

Julian Lees was born and raised in Hong Kong, attended boarding school in England and currently lives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with his wife and children.

The great-grandson of a high-ranking Cossack general who served under the last Tsar of Russia, Julian is a writer who draws from his family's rich history.His novels are set in a world where East meets West, a cross-cultural world which he captures bewitchingly and dramatically in his fiction.

Ruud Pujasumarta has seen some gang-perpetrated horror crimes in his time, but the slum murder of a middle-aged woman he is called to is both horrifying and baffling. Mari Agnes Liem has not only been choked to death while tied to her bed, but the murderer has amputated her left hand and left a mah jong tile in her throat. And he has taken the hand with him. Ruud's personal life is a disaster - the whole world seems to know that his wife has left him for another man, perhaps because his (ex) mother-in-law keeps on turning up at his office with food for him. The only bright spot on Ruud's horizon is the imminent arrival of Imke Sneijder from Amsterdam, whom he hasn't seen for fifteen years, when they were both twelve-year-old neighbours before her family moved back to Holland. As Ruud and his department investigate the crime and the others that follow, he begins to realise that the current murderous spree may be linked to events which occured fifteen years ago, at about the time Imke left Indonesia . . .

Ruud Pujasumarta has seen some gang-perpetrated horror crimes in his time, but the slum murder of a middle-aged woman he is called to is both horrifying and baffling. Mari Agnes Liem has not only been choked to death while tied to her bed, but the murderer has amputated her left hand and left a mah jong tile in her throat. And he has taken the hand with him.Ruud's personal life is a disaster - the whole world seems to know that his wife has left him for another man, perhaps because his (ex) mother-in-law keeps on turning up at his office with food for him. The only bright spot on Ruud's horizon is the imminent arrival of Imke Sneijder from Amsterdam, whom he hasn't seen for fifteen years, when they were both twelve-year-old neighbours before her family moved back to Holland.As Ruud and his department investigate the crime and the others that follow, he begins to realise that the current murderous spree may be linked to events which occurred fifteen years ago, at about the time Imke left Indonesia...

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