Book excerpt: The Emperor has brutally murdered one of his concubines, something which, everyone admits, he has every right to do.... Or did he? In the bitterly cold north China winter of 1153, the Eunuch Gett senses there is more to the murder, but when he is ordered by the Emperor to investigate it, he is trapped. With all clues pointing towards the Emperor himself, Gett knows that any misstep will mean his own death by execution. As he makes his way through the maze of harem sexual politics, ferocious court wars and the seething city beyond the palace walls, he must answer one question: Why frame a man who is above punishment? This gripping novel by Jonathan Kos-Read, China's top foreign actor with over a hundred films to his credit, delves deep into the imperial past, and into sexual customs that remain alive even today. Customs that can kill a woman. Or bring down an Empire....