'A good mystery'

Although it took many years to research and recount Mesny's life, including retracing his steps as far as possible to visit cities, battlefields and other places of interest, Leffman rarely felt overwhelmed or despaired that he might not finish writing The Mercenary Mandarin.

"It was something that escalated as I gathered information, rather like reading a good mystery or thriller and increasingly wondering how it was all going to turn out. And, having spent 25 years working to deadlines, it was an indulgence to set my own pace," he explained.

He was also constantly impressed by Mesny's "affection for Guizhou, also one of my favorite places in China; his interest in everything he came across and willingness to try anything; and his honest - almost naive - travelogues".

That affection for Guizhou, and indeed most things Chinese, is highlighted in The Mercenary Mandarin by the use of Mesny's own words, culled from thousands of items, including newspaper reports and articles, published collectively as Mesny's Chinese Miscellany.

At four volumes and running to a mammoth 2,000 pages and about 1 million words, the Miscellany contains Mesny's thoughts on just about anything and everything connected with life in China: politics, food, social mores, ailments and treatments, the standing of the army, the price of rice and, increasingly, his own perilous financial situation.

Everything, it seems, was grist to his mill, and although Mesny rewrote previously published articles to bring his own role to the fore, the collection remains a valuable and fascinating window into life in China during the last decades of the Qing Dynasty.