In this installment of the series Li Du has joined a caravan heading north and finds the dead body of an elderly monk on a path leading to a manor where his group is headed for the night. The owner of the manor, Dosa, seems to think that the monk, Dhamo, committed suicide over an obsession with the demonic world as an odd symbol was painted on his chest and an image of a mirror was painted on his face. Li Du believes that the monk was murdered and that someone painted the symbol and mirror on the monk's wounds after he died from a stab wound in the lower abdomen.
Being stuck at the manor house due to a snow storm, Li Du uses his scholarly skills to investigate the circumstances surrounding Dhamo's death. Some of the suspicious characters Li is stranded with include a female from Lhasa, a Roman Catholic priest and his Chinese translator, the 4th Chhoshe Lasa, Li's old colleague Hamza and a merchant familiar with the mountainous area surrounding them all.
The pace of the first half of this novel was slow. Since there was more historical detail than investigation of a crime, I was thinking about calling this book historical fiction, not a historical mystery which it is advertised as being. However, the pace picked up at the halfway mark when the investigation became primary to the plot. It did take a long time to get going since the murder happened in the first chapter.
The author's knowledge of the geographic area is apparent as well as her knowledge of the era. She provides the reader with meticulous details on everything from how to cross the Tibetan mountains both in winter and spring to the regional politics of Tibet and from the spiritual beliefs of the mountain people to Hamza's crazy tales on deducing facts.
The White Mirror was a fun read and I rate it 3 out of 5 stars.
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