Hired by Tommy Ordonez, the richest man in the Philippines, to recover $50 million in a land swindle, Ava has her work cut out. Tommy’s brother has messed up and the Filipino billionaire’s reputation is on the line.

Tracking the money, Ava uncovers an illegal online gambling ring, and follows the trail to Las Vegas. Once there, she turns her gaze to David Douglas, one of the greatest poker players in the world – and someone who knows more about the missing money than he’s letting on.

 I read the first book in this series ‘The Water Rat Of Wanchai’ a.k.a. ‘The Deadly Touch Of The Tigress’ (2011) a year ago. It stuck with me, mostly because it was so hard to label. Thriller/Travelogue/Pan-Asian mashup. I had my doubts about a book about a Chinese woman written by a white European man. I had bigger doubts about combining ‘Thriller’ and ‘Accountant’. To my surprise it worked so I decided to try the second book ‘The Disciple Of Las Vegas‘.

The book has a slow low-key start with background explanations about the world that Ava Lee inhabits, her relationship with her business partner, Uncle Chow, and the dangerous nature of her next client. Although it was slow, it wasn’t tedious, just matter-of-fact, which is an achievement as what Ava Lee does is unusual, complicated and borderline criminal. The introduction meant that you didn’t have to have read the first book to enjoy this one, although I’d recommend reading it so that you have a better understanding of who Ava is. She’s easy to underestimate and she uses that to her advantage.

Surprisingly for a thriller, the novel stayed low key as Ava travelled the world met the (unpleasant, impolite, rich and very dangerous) client and then went on the hunt to recover $50m of missing money that, in the space of a few days took her on tour around the world from Canda to Manila, Las Vegas and London. Her investigation took her deep into the world of online poker and the casinos of Las Vegas.

To add to the fun, Ava Lee is also being pursued. A criminal she rather forcefully recovered some money from has put a hit out on her. UncleChow is trying to get it cancelled but, in the meantime, Ava is at risk.

Ava’s pursuit of the stolen money was relentless, sometimes violent but always calm. I found watching her surprisingly compelling and just a little chilling. Ava is always polite and never gives way to fits of temper. I didn’t realise how far I’d started to accept Ava’s methods as reasonable and even civilised by comparison to the people she was working for and recovering money from until she decided that circumstances required her to change tactics and, with the help of two of Uncle’s men, she set about torturing the men who stole the money. There was no malice and no pleasure in the violence. It was just business. Which actually made it feel worse.

Even so, I found myself on Ava’s side, especially when she came into conflict with a corrupt, racist, misogynistic Bristish Minister. I’m fairly sure I know who he was based on and I enjoyed watching Ava getting the better of him.

Despite the violence, the Ava Lee novels work for me as a particular kind of comfort read so I went looking the third book. I found that the novels have been bundled into sets of three, starting with book three, so I picked up a bundle to sit on my TBR for the next time I’m looking for a slightly off-centre, relaxing, unchallenging read.

The Wild Beasts of Wuhan,
Uncle and Ava are summoned by Wong Changxing, “The Emperor of Hubei” and one of the most powerful men in China, when he discovers that the Fauvist paintings he recently acquired are in fact forgeries. Ava uncovers a ring of fraudulent art dealers and follows their twisted trail to Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Dublin, London, and New York. But the job is further complicated by Wong’s second wife, the cunning and seductive May Ling, who threatens to interfere in Ava’s investigation. Will Ava find the perpetrators and get the Wongs’ money back? Or will May Ling get to them first . . .

The Red Pole of Macau,
Ava’s half-brother Michael is desperate to pull out of a multi-million-dollar real estate deal in the territory of Macau. The developers are threatening to halt construction unless Michael and his business partner put up another $80 million; the bank is looking for repayment on their loan; and her father is prepared to sell everything to protect his first-born son. As Ava follows the money trail, she finds herself drawn deeper and deeper into Hong Kong’s dark and deadly world of organized crime.

The Scottish Banker of Surabaya,
Ava begins an investigation into what she thinks is a Ponzi scheme. The trail leads her to a bank in Indonesia that is run by a Scot, but in actuality is a front for an elaborate money-laundering operation for Italian mobsters. The relationship between Ava and the Scotsman turns nasty and personal. Meanwhile, Uncle’s health problems become apparent . . .