Steve's search for family leads him to a dilapidated mansion in Malaysia.

Mick is footloose with a fortune burning a hole in his pocket; he's drawn to the same romantic ruin.

Nancy Lee's family owns the building and has plans for its palatial restoration.

Weaving together these strands, inspired by the deception at the heart of the 1974 classic American-noir film Chinatown, Robert Ronsson creates a world where death haunts every step and nothing is what it seems.

Once Upon a Time in Chinatown is Robert Ronsson's second novel to be influenced by a classic American movie. The first, also published by Patrician Press, is Out of Such Darkness, inspired by the film, Cabaret (1972).