When Dragons Dance

Imperial China, 1899. A decadent empire seething with the bloody Boxer Rebellion. Harry Maxim, American railroad man, has been commissioned by President McKinley as special envoy to the Manchu court of the notorious Empress Dowager, “Whore of Peking.” It’s an assignment for a man unafraid to die.

But as much as Harry Maxim must fear for his own life, he is more desperate yet to save the Russian countess he once loved, and still does.

Embroiled in the strife devouring China, Maxim and the ravishingly beautiful Countress Borinoff are torn from each other by warring factions. And without ever being certain what devious motives threaten them, they are forced to through a perilous labyrinth in which every smile masks deadly purpose, and enemies watch for one wrong step.

Across an empire writhing in turmoil, from the opium dens of Macao to the Forbidden City of Peking to the Empress Dowager’s Room of Undying Pleasure, a saga of grandeur and romance unfolds.