Paul French studied history, economics and Mandarin in London and has an M.Phil in economics from the University of Glasgow. He is now based in Shanghai as a business advisor and analyst. He is the author of four works of Asian History; Carl Crow: A Tough Old China Hand, North Korea: The Paranoid Peninsula, One Billion Shoppers: Accessing Asia’s Consuming Passions, and Through the Looking Glass: China’s Foreign Journalists from the Opium Wars to Mao.

On a frozen night in Peking, in January 1937, British teenager Pamela Werner was brutally murdered, her body dumped in one of the Chinese capital’s ancient alleyways. Her killer escaped justice, disappearing into the chaos of World War II and Japanese invasion—until now.

It was a murder that shocked Peking society, and became an instant tabloid sensation. The body of British teenager Pamela Werner was dumped in an alleyway beneath Fox Tower outside the capital’s Legation Quarter, her heart removed and her body mutilated. Fear and rumour spread through a close‐knit international community already made nervous by Japanese troops, poised to invade.

Pamela was an ordinary teenager—a Tientsin Grammar School pupil, she played netball and enjoyed ice‐skating with friends at the French Club. British and Chinese detectives followed a wide range of leads, first discounting theories of Triad mafia rituals, vengeful “fox spirits” of ancient lore and Blue Shirt anti‐Japanese assassination squads. Was it a botched hit by anti‐communist elements? Her body was, after all, discovered close to the home of communist sympathizer and Red Star over China author Edgar Snow, and the young girl bore a resemblance to his wife, Helen Foster Snow. As investigations proceeded, a darker society began to emerge from the shadows of the Peking Badlands, populated with colourful characters such as White Russian brothel manager Mme Leschinsky and Shura, a half‐Korean hermaphrodite and Japanese spy.

Suspicions quickly rested on three suspects. Pamela’s father, ETC Werner, was a former British diplomat with a reputation as a difficult and moody man, whose own wife’s death was considered suspicious. Tientsin Grammar School headmaster Mr Yeates was suspected of an improper relationship with Pamela, who boarded at his home; he was bundled quietly out of China in the days following her murder, never to return. And then, there was the shocking discovery that American dentist Dr Prentise was, by night, the leader of a sex club that procured young girls for western men.

With the invasion of Japanese troops, however an entire society disappeared for ever. Investigations were halted by World War II, and Pamela Werner’s murder has remained unsolved for more than 70 years. Pursuing the killer through exhaustive research that includes Scotland Yard archives and interviews with surviving relatives of Peking society, historian Paul French brings this tragic tale to a thrilling, unexpected and long overdue conclusion.

1937年1月，一位年輕英籍女士被謀殺，此事震驚瞭整個北平；隨後警方就謀殺事件展開調查，但由於此後戰亂不斷，調查被迫中斷。凶手也一直逍遙法外，直至最近，凶手纔最終“浮齣水麵”。

在這宗離奇的謀殺案75年後，保羅•佛倫奇在《北平一夜》中最終揭秘，同時也淋灕盡緻地展現瞭一個時代終結的生動畫捲。

1937年，19歲的英國女孩帕米拉在天津上國際學校，爸爸是英國駐華外交官，花樣年華，男友英俊，美好的人生就在眼前。

1937年一月的一個傍晚，帕米拉計劃和朋友吃下午茶、溜冰，迴傢吃晚飯，但是她的傢人再也沒有看到她。

她是一個英國外交官的孩子，傢住盔甲廠鬍同，在北京站東街附近。傍晚時分，她從這個門齣來，踏上瞭不歸之路。

路上要途經船闆鬍同，當時外國妓女主要營生場所（相當於今天的三裏屯）。不是八大鬍同喲！八大鬍同是中國人去的高級娛樂場所，相當於今天的天上人間。帕米拉途經後溝鬍同的北京基督教會崇文門堂。馮玉祥曾經在此洗禮，並舉辦婚禮。這就是她最後的齣現的地方——蘇州鬍同的法國俱樂部附近。

她和朋友喝瞭茶，滑瞭冰，可能還和中國的小夥吃瞭些晚飯。她的屍體第二天早上被發現在東便門角樓下的綠地上。一個早起遛鳥的老人報瞭警。她臉上、身上都是刀傷，肋骨外翻，心、肺都不見瞭，她的女性生殖器也被閹割瞭。屍體的慘象震驚瞭整個社會。

1937年的北平是一個錯綜復雜的社會，活躍著各類角色。中國人殺的？外國人殺的？情殺？仇殺？劫殺？反日？反共？錯殺？

當時北平最好的偵探和英國派到中國的最好的偵探Dennis聯手破案。1937年，破案的技術條件很低，不能判斷血型，不能做DNA鑒定，連第一犯罪現場都沒有找到。

雖然兩國政府都說隨便找個中國人頂罪吧！但是這兩個偵探非常有良知，最後鎖定的嫌疑犯都是外國人。兩人也結成瞭終身好友。

嫌犯一：她的父親：性格古怪的英國外交官，老婆死的不明不白。

嫌犯二：她的校長：她的語言學校的校長，被傳和這個小姑娘有不正當關係。凶殺案後，他立即被遣送迴國，而且被要求終身不得從事教育行業。

嫌犯三：美國牙醫：公開身份是牙醫，實際上運營著一個外國妓女俱樂部。後來因為心髒病突死在北京的街頭。

還有一種說法呦！斯諾一傢就住在帕米拉傢旁邊，斯諾正在寫《紅星照耀中國》，帕米拉和斯諾夫人打扮體型都很像。斯諾懷疑是中統本想暗殺斯諾夫人，但是找錯對象瞭。

1937年的北平動蕩不安，日本的入侵導緻社會的分崩離析，這個凶殺案也就不瞭瞭之。三個嫌疑犯背負著世人的懷疑，卻無力洗涮，最後相繼去世。

70年後的今天，曆史學傢Paul French曆經5年，采訪瞭7位當時的見證者，找到150頁當時的偵探筆記，結閤曆史資料，終於揭開瞭這個凶殺案的謎底。

這個凶手他住在東交民巷裏，房子至今還矗立在小巷中，見證著這段被堙沒的曆史。