Her killing and mutilation while cycling home from an evening of ice skating remain unsolved.

The expatriate community in Peking were shocked at the crime which, without specific evidence, was variously attributed to a Japanese secret society or an American organized sex ring.

An Englishman resident in China claimed to have been informed by Japanese military officers that Werner's death was in retaliation for the killing of a Japanese soldier by British soldiers in a drunken brawl.

Although the source was a known eccentric, British diplomats provisionally accepted this account while not taking the matter further.

[2] Kudos Film and Television have plans for an onscreen adaptation of Midnight in Peking as a miniseries.