This was meant to be the final story and intended as a possible festive special. Robbie Coltrane joked whether it would be called Christmas Cracker or Chinese Cracker!
Fitz is in Hong Kong on a lecture tour. It is lucrative but gambling is never far away for Fitz.
When a prominent Hong Kong businessman is murdered. The Hong Kong police call in Fitz although it cost them a suite in the Ritz Carlton. A step up from the crummy hotel Fitz had been staying in DCI Wise also shows up to help out.
Ex Pat Dennis Philby is the businessman who is pushed over the edge. Triggered by financial difficulties and when his Hong Kong girlfriend Su Lin announces that she wants to have an abortion.
Fitz and the police are in a race against time to save Su Lin who Philby has imprisoned.
The story is set in the final days of British rule of Hong Kong. It also seemed to be a thank you from Granada to Robbie Coltrane in delivering a hit television show.
The story is weak, this is leftovers that got reheated. Nothing much worked like the police needing Fitz for the case or to whatever that happened in the past that tipped Philby to go on a murder spree. Even Wise was very much a comic foil, you would think he had never gone on holiday abroad.