{"id":12076,"date":"2019-09-12T21:45:36","date_gmt":"2019-09-13T01:45:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=12076"},"modified":"2026-03-22T10:37:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T14:37:53","slug":"snake-agent-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/12076","title":{"rendered":"Snake Agent"},"content":{"rendered":"

Snake Agent<\/a><\/em> (2005) Liz Williams<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Detective Inspector Chen is in charge of crimes that stretch into Heaven and Hell (obviously, far more cases involve Hell over heaven) and as an occult practitioner whose patronage of the goddess Kuan Yin affords him a measure of protection when he has to travel to Hell. Unfortunately, his recent marriage has put him on the outs with his Goddess, and he can\u2019t rely upon her protections right now.<\/p>\n

The case begins with a woman wants the police to look into the death of her daughter\u2013not the cause of her death, but the fact that she currently seems to be residing in Hell, rather than in Heaven where she belongs.<\/p>\n

My favorite character:<\/p>\n

(T)he metal sides of the kettle sprouted into a thick pelt of striped fur. The handle disconnected itself at one end and flattened into a short tail. The spout of the kettle snaked through the air, as if seeking a shape, and then shortened. Two cold black eyes appeared above the spout. Teakettle had become badger.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I also love the philosophy and religion and faith and conflict between all.<\/p>\n

(Y)ou\u2019ve got two souls, not one as the Christians tell people. One is called the hun, and the other is called the p\u2019o. When you die, the hun goes out into the universe and tries to find its way to Heaven\u2014 usually it just wanders about until it gets reincarnated\u2014 but the p\u2019o is different.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cHeaven is good at listening, Wei Chen, but not so good when it comes to acting. That is why we need people like you to do our work in the world. Any help I could give you is already to be found in your own soul.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Even twenty years ago it was still common to see the small shrines outside each door, and for the old people to speak of the gods as real, living presences. Now, paradoxically, the other worlds were closer than they had been since ancient times; with new technology to speed up all manner of communication, yet people seemed to take less and less interest in spiritual matters.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And the story is just so fun and odd.<\/p>\n

Passers-by took one look at Detective Inspector Chen hastening down the road with a lobster on a string, like one of the more eccentric French surrealists, and gave him a very wide berth.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’m still not certain this is the story I was in the mood for, but it did take me out of myself, so that’s a win.<\/p>\n

Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Snake Agent (2005) Liz Williams Detective Inspector Chen is in charge of crimes that stretch into Heaven and Hell (obviously, far more cases involve Hell over heaven) and as an occult practitioner whose patronage of the goddess Kuan Yin affords him a measure of protection when he has to travel to Hell. Unfortunately, his recent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,31,2,8,42,41,34],"tags":[127,126,655],"class_list":["post-12076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-asian","category-fantasy","category-mystery","category-police","category-reread","category-urban-fantasy","tag-detective-inspector-chen","tag-liz-williams","tag-violence"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-38M","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4219,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4219","url_meta":{"origin":12076,"position":0},"title":"Snake Agent","author":"Michelle","date":"December 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Snake Agent (2005) Liz Williams The Detective Inspector Chen series popped up as an Amazon ebook deal of the day, and I love this series so much I snatched them up as ebooks. (In my defense, my copies are all trade paperbacks.) Detective Inspector Chen is in charge of crimes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Snake-Agent.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":25939,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/25939","url_meta":{"origin":12076,"position":1},"title":"Snake Agent","author":"Michelle","date":"March 15, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Snake Agent (2005) Liz Williams (Detective Inspector Chen #1) It's been more than half a decade since I last read this series, and I'd forgotten how much SF and horror it has. Probably because both are far less important than the fantasy and mystery, and neither the SF or the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Snake Agent","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Snake-Agent-199x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1679,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1679","url_meta":{"origin":12076,"position":2},"title":"The Shadow Pavilion","author":"Michelle","date":"April 4, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The Shadow Pavilion (2009) Liz Williams Detective Inspector Chen has multiple problems to deal with: his partner Zhu Irzh has disappeared, along with the badger, a Bollywood star\/tiger demon is on the rampage, and someone wants to kill the Emperor of Heaven. Add to that the complexity of everyday life\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Shadow Pavilion","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/The-Shadow-Pavilion.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2358,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2358","url_meta":{"origin":12076,"position":3},"title":"The Iron Khan","author":"Michelle","date":"April 30, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The Iron Khan (2010) Liz Williams I stumbled across The Snake Agent in 2007, and since then have eagerly bought books in the Detective Inspector Chen series whenever they came out. However, at some point finding those books was getting to be more and more difficult. Scuttlebutt has it that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Iron-Khan.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":342,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/342","url_meta":{"origin":12076,"position":4},"title":"Snake Agent","author":"Michelle","date":"February 1, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Snake Agent (2005) Liz Williams When I purchased this book I thought it was a mystery, after all, it's \"A Detective Inspector Chen Novel.\" And since I bought the book on-line, I couldn't see the cover clearly, so that didn't tell me anything either. I just knew it had come\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Snake-Agent.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":384,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/384","url_meta":{"origin":12076,"position":5},"title":"The Demon and the City","author":"Michelle","date":"May 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The Demon and the City (2006) Liz Williams After reading The Snake Agent, I've been looking forward the reading the next Detective Inspector Chen book. (In fact, the paperback edition has been on pre-order for several months.) As with many authors I like, after getting a book, I'm hesitant to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Demon and the City","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.klishis.com\/Books\/images\/demon_and_the_city.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12076\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}