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HONG KONG’S
NEWEST
CRIME THRILLER



About the Book

Welcome to my official website


If you like exhilarating action that’s set in Asia’s financial capital, you’ve come to the right place! Explore the dark side of Hong Kong; get an insider’s view of the region’s investment banking industry; and discover the realistic tradecraft used by an elusive assassin.


The Book

Hard Underwriting



Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, September 2017. Year of the Rooster. Twenty years after the handover of the British crown colony to communist China. The process to designate the territory’s leader has been suspended, leading to renewed calls for electoral reform.

A high-flying investment banker is found at dawn on his doorstep, brutally murdered, his body almost cut in half. More financiers are soon killed in spectacular fashion, triggering a game of cat and mouse between the police and an elusive Japanese assassin, known within Tokyo’s underworld as Shyriō, the spirit of death.

The investigation takes Chief Inspector Ethan Blake and Inspector Suki Lam from the boardrooms of multinational banks to seedy industrial warehouses in Kwun Tong and Aberdeen, as they desperately try to find a motive for the grisly series of murders.

In his debut crime novel, former investment banker Philippe Espinasse takes a ride on the dark side of Asia’s fast-changing financial capital. Hong Kong becomes a playground, where wealthy expatriates rub shoulders with prostitutes and tycoons, while a younger generation aspires to democratic ideals.


The book is published by P&C Books, a division of P&C Ventures Limited, and is available in both paperback (ISBN 978-988-14272-0-5) and Kindle (ISBN 978-988-14272-1-2) versions on Amazon and through selected online and offline retailers.



The Author

Philippe Espinasse


Philippe Espinasse spent almost two decades working as a senior investment banker. He lives in Hong Kong, where he now writes and works as an independent consultant. He is also Honorary Lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the University of Hong Kong.


He has published several non-fiction books (including IPO guides, one of which has been translated into Chinese, and books on equity capital markets) and has contributed numerous articles to a variety of newspapers and magazines, including the South China Morning Post, the Nikkei Asian Review, the China Economic Review, and the website of BBC News.


He also penned the “Clawback” column on Asian equity capital markets for Euromoney’s GlobalCapital for a number of years.


Hard Underwriting is his first novel.


IPO BOOKS


Check out my other website, for information on my non-fiction books and the many articles I
regularly publish in financial and other newspapers and magazines.


See my non-fiction Books

IPO BOOKS


Check out my other website, for information on my non-fiction books and the many articles I
regularly publish in financial and other newspapers and magazines.


See my non-fiction Books

Get in Touch


Whether you are a reader, a publishing professional, or a journalist, I am always keen to hear from you. Please use the form to reach out to me, including your contact details, and I will revert to you shortly.


Speaking Engagements


I am also happy to consider speaking engagements, book signings and other assignments.

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