Midnight in Peking

Midnight in Peking is the true story of the murder of a young British woman in January 1937 Peking written by Paul French. It was first published by Penguin Australia in association with Penguin China in 2011 and has since been published by Penguin Books in the UK and by Penguin Group USA. It has appeared on international best seller lists including the New York Times Best Seller List and the South China Morning Post Best Seller List.

Contents

• Midnight in peking a conversation with author paul french
• Awards
• References

The victim was Pamela Werner, 19-year-old daughter of retired British consul E. T. C. Werner and academic resident in Peking. Her killing and mutilation while cycling home from an evening of ice skating has never been solved. The expatriate community in Peking was widely shocked at the crime which, without specific evidence, was variously attributed to a Japanese secret society or an American organized sex ring. An Englishman resident in China claimed to have been informed by Japanese military officers that Werner's death was in retaliation for the killing of a Japanese soldier by British soldiers in a drunken brawl. Although the source was a known eccentric, British diplomats provisionally accepted this account while not taking the matter further.

Kudos Film and Television have plans for an onscreen adaptation of Midnight in Peking as a miniseries.