Yellowthread Street

The Hong Bay district of Hong Kong is seediness writ large, a spectacularly chaotic warren of cut-rate brothels and betting shops and other less wholesome enterprises. Keeping the peace – sort of – are the cops of the Yellowthread Street Station, under the jaundiced eye of Detective Chief Inspector Harry Feiffer. They’re an intrepid (if foul-mouthed) bunch, but even their formidable skills are taxed by the Bay’s latest series of little mishaps, which begins with a fellow near the fishmarket chopping up his wife with an axe. Meanwhile, notorious madam Hot Time Alice Ping and her leg-breaker, Osaka the Disemboweler, are plotting revenge on the Mongolian, a giggling, freelance extortionist whose glee at hacking off fingers and other non-essential bits is terrifying the neighborhood shopkeepers. It all adds up to a breathless night, culminating in a frenzied three-way battle against Hong Kong’s neon backdrop. And then there’s the tourist from New Jersey who seems to have misplaced his wife . . . The 1st Yellowthread Street mystery