Flower Net (1997) by
Lisa See is the first of the Red Princess mysteries. The other two novels in the series are
The Interior (1999) and
Dragon Bones (2003).
Flower Net explores the state of
US-China relations in the early months of 1997, especially in terms of
international politics,
human trafficking, and the smuggling of illegal goods such as
bear bile, and nuclear trigger devices. It also focuses on human relationships – especially those between father and son, father and daughter. Pam Spencer suggests that the title refers to "the flower net used by Chinese fishermen who throw the mesh wide to trap everything within its reach".