A missing woman. A frozen body. A mystery unfolds. Joseon Korea, winter, 1590.At the foot of a jagged mountain range, an isolated village lies in muddy snow. From her bed, a young noblewoman vanishes in the dead of night and rumours of a fearsome ghost with no face echo in her wake. Hard-working and dogged Dan Ji, arrives in the long winding valley with her own ghosts. As a damo, a tea servant of … winding valley with her own ghosts. As a damo, a tea servant of the police force, she is overlooked and undervalued. Yet this case has gripped her heart, and she craves to prove her worth beyond simply cooking and cleaning for her superiors – she is determined to solve the mystery.
With only the officer in charge on her side – a hard young man with a bloody past and secrets of his own – Dan Ji must convince the local Magistrate and his provincial policemen to trust her judgement. Yet with mistrust brewing, the investigation slowly grinds to a halt. Until a frozen body is unearthed from the deep snows of the mountain range.
It is not within Dan Ji’s nature to leave a mystery unsolved, yet soon she discovers the fine threads of this investigation run much deeper than anyone has anticipated.
A dark historical mystery set in old Korea.
more
From the action packed peril of the opening scene, Lee Evie’s A Song for Lonely Wolves pulls the reader into Dan Ji’s life as a tea servant then sweeps them along into a new mystery as she travels to a village and into the surrounding hills in what begins as a search for a missing well-born girl. Along with another Damo and the reserved police Lieutenant Jo Man Seok, Dan Ji’s efforts are hampered by the systems of society and power in Joseon era Korea.
Just as Dan Ji pulls the various threads that come together to solve a mystery, the layers of this story come together to form a riveting and compelling whole. Among the most intriguing of those layers is that of a young woman of no prospects or social standing who dared to make more of herself, gaining the respect of the other damo who call her “the battle axe,” being faced with an unexpected choice of who she wants to become.
With a strong narrative voice and a well-paced plot that varies in tempo, this first in series book strikes a balance between first person introspection and action, impulse and reason, crisp writing and rich storytelling weaving together the layers and themes of a self-contained story while leaving room for the reader to anticipate continuing on to the next book in the Joseon Detective trilogy. There is much to enjoy in this mystery set in 16th Century Korea that managed to surprise me through turns and seeming roadblocks, and even my own emotional response. I’m looking forward to more of this trilogy and more of Damo Dan Ji.
The review above refers to a digital copy I voluntarily received through #HFVBTBlogTours. A positive review was not required and all opinions expressed are my own.
Dan Ji, a damo that is a tea servant for the police force is used to only be called upon when a woman is needed to help questions or get close to those who may fear the police, men or just refuse to cooperate with police. Word has been sent that there is a missing young noblewoman and the royal family wants it solved quickly, and without a lot of noise.
Dan Ji is told she will be going to this village, along with another damo. As two damo’s have been requested. Although uncertain, Dan Ji is going to give it her all and do her best to work with the other damo. Rumor is that there is a faceless ghost within the mountains that has come for the noblewoman.
Dan Ji starts asking around, and the other damo goes undercover to try and find out information from servants and staff that may have seen her the night she disappeared. Murmurs come out that she ran away with her nurse, and ran to meet and leave with her lover. Dan Ji doesn’t like this theory. Something is just not sitting right and she can feel there’s more to find out.
As there search continues, there is a frozen body that is found. But it is not the missing woman. As Dan Ji questions more, they find out that these two are not the only ones to go missing over the years. This doesn’t really sound like she ran off to be with her lover. As the case takes a turn, Dan Ji is then told that her service is no longer needed and she will be returning to her own village. But there is still a murderer out there, and the identity of this faceless ghost.
She refuses to remain quiet, and does everything she can as a woman and damo to find out the truth and answers to this all. How is it all connected? Are they all connected? Why these young women, and what for? This was a good, historical mystery read. I did not have any idea about damos, and so it was interesting to read about them and Korea in the late 1500’s. If you are looking for something historical and a bit different, I would suggest this novel.
Thank you to the author, Lee Evie for the book and to Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours for the invite. I enjoyed this different style of historical fiction.
A SONG FOR LONELY WOLVES by Lee Evie is the first book in the Joseon Detective historical mystery series and the first book that I have read by this author. The story is set in 1590 in Korea during the Joseon dynasty; a time and place for which I have little knowledge.
Dan Ji is the main protagonist. She is a Damo, a class of servant and works for the police department. While damos often served tea and other domestic tasks, they are sometimes used as police officers to investigate crime; mostly crimes involving women. Dan Ji has earned a reputation for successfully investigating crimes. After the conclusion of the opening raid on a gambling den, she is dispatched to an isolated northern village where a noble woman is missing.
This is a dark mystery and the landscape as well as the conditions of most people are stark, cold and depressing. While damos are generally overlooked and undervalued, Dan Ji is not willing to stay quiet and be on the sidelines. The changing dynamics of her situation in the northern village kept me glued to the story.
Dan Ji was definitely someone you could root for. Her flaws and virtues felt real as well as her internal and external conflicts. The writing was descriptive and haunting. The plot twists were believable and the stakes were high. Themes include class systems, murder, abduction, trauma, vigilantism, poverty, torture, internal conflicts of right and wrong and much more.
Overall, this was a well-done historical mystery that is thought-provoking. I also learned about an era in a country that I knew almost nothing about.
I won a digital copy of this book in a Goodreads Giveaway. Thanks go to Goodreads, Interstice Press and Lee Evie for the opportunity to provide an honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.