In the mountains of Tibet, illegal monks are escaping after their bus that was transporting them to prison crashes, and at the same time two women in an oncoming car are shot and killed. One of the women is a Chinese minister, the other is a Westerner. The first on the scene is Shan, an exiled Chinese investigator who has spent years in a prison camps and now illegally lives in Tibet. He is first suspected and tortured. It becomes clear he is not guilty, and Shan is released but cannot escape the murder and begins to investigate the crime.

The Lord of Death is the latest book in a series by Eliot Pattison that features Shan and Tibet. Always present is the danger from the authorities and the oppression of the monks and the local people. Shan, with his understanding of the bureaucracy from his former life in Beijing, is able to overcome obstacles to investigate the case, and yet his new friendships with the Tibetans give him the strength to try. This mystery is rich in details and the complexity of the Tibetan struggle.