The Mandarin's Fan

On a sultry July evening, the terrace of the ancient Royabay mansion is alive with the clink of glasses and the fragrant swirl of cigar smoke. Major Tidman, a weather‑worn soldier of fortune, settles into a plush armchair, while his host, Ainsleigh, drifts restlessly from one spot to another, eyes fixed on the sprawling gardens below. The house, its Tudor battlements cloaked in ivy, glows beneath a saffron sky, hinting at stories long hidden within its stone walls.

When a delicate, lacquered fan—once belonging to a Chinese mandarin—appears among the evening's curiosities, whispered rumors of curses and vanished fortunes surface. Ainsleigh’s uneasy fascination draws the Major into a web of secrets, inviting a cast of strangers whose motives are as tangled as the garden’s vines. Listeners are soon pulled into the first act of a puzzle where loyalty, greed, and an enigmatic relic converge, setting the stage for a suspenseful chase through intrigue and deception.