James Nicoll Reviews

Chloe Gong’s 2023 Last Violent Call is a collection of two novellas, both set in the world of her previous historical crime thriller duology, These Violent Delights.

Sensible criminals keep a low profile. They certainly don’t play investigator. In both of these stories, circumstances force criminals into unwonted behavior.

Roma and Juliette’s stories are as SFnal as any Doc Savage or Avenger story, what with the mad science they keep encountering.

It is a good thing that the characters have so much fun in these stories because, set as they are in Russia and China of the early 1930s, history is going to become excessively interesting in the very near future. What will happen to Roma and Juliette when the Japanese invade? What will happen to Benedikt and Marshall if they are in Russia when the Great Terror begins?

The thing to bear in mind here is that the Violent Delights books are historical crime thrillers. Neither Roma and Juliette nor Benedikt and Marshall care about the niceties of the law (Chinese, Russian, or any other). Hence the corpses Roma and Juliette quietly roll into canals. This is also why, in the second story, actually solving the case is a secondary concern¹. Set your expectations accordingly.

These two novellas are amusing little adventures, neither one long enough to overstay their welcome. Also, fans of the Violent Delights duology will be pleased to discover that the star-crossed lovers did in fact manage to escape their apparently inevitable fate. At least, for the moment.

Last Violent Call is available here (Amazon US), here (Amazon Canada), here (Amazon UK), here (Apple Books), here (Barnes & Noble), and here (Chapters-Indigo).

A Foul Thing

Having escaped their families’ incessant feud, Juliette Cai and Roma Montagov reinvented themselves as happily married weapons sellers in Zhouzhuang. When a young man, Yulun, appeals to them for help protecting his girlfriend Mila, Juliette and Roma’s prudent instinct is to say no. Certain details compel their involvement.

Their adventures prior to running away from their families involved mad scientists bent on mass destruction. Agents of familiar mad scientists are targeting Mila. She is the only survivor of a shadowy research project. The smart move might be to flee the city in case the complications prove as destructive as before. Roma and Juliette take pity on Yulun and Mila because they seem to share common enemies.

Unravelling which particular mad scientists are involved is fairly straightforward, as subterfuge is not a mad science strength. Establishing the true nature of the threat to Mila will be more difficult, for it is much closer to Mila than anyone suspects.

This Foul Murder

Benedikt and Marshall’s straightforward trip to Vladivostok is complicated when a corpse is discovered on the Trans-Siberian Express. The dead man having been apparently violently murdered, the logical next step would be to halt the train until the police catch the killer.

Benedikt and Marshall have a deadline and neither lover would exactly welcome being in close proximity to police. Therefore, they convince the train’s employees that they will catch the killer, provided the train is kept in motion so that the murderer cannot escape. This ensures the pair will reach Vladivostok in time. Who knows? Maybe they will solve the crime as well.

1: This is why hardened criminals are an unwise choice for amateur detective protagonists in a crime thriller. Unwise but still fun to watch..

I am reminded of a long-ago roleplaying game that involved murder on a starship in flight. There being an actual cop on board, the player characters put that person (also a player character) in charge of the investigation. Working out whodunnit was easy-peasy for the cop … because the cop was the killer.