Death of a Red Heroine

Chief Inspector Chen Cao, the newly appointed head of the special crimes division of the Shanghai police, and his squad, mainly Detective Yu Guangming, are called upon to investigate the murder of a young woman whose naked body was found dumped in a canal.

It took me a while to get used to the style, especially the dialogue, which struck me as overly formal and rather stilted, but then maybe that reflects Chinese speech patterns of the time. It was interesting seeing how a fairly run-of-the-mill whodunnit played out against a Chinese background. I will definitely continue reading.

A Loyal Character Dancer

The body of a man wearing Valentino silk pyjamas is found in a public park and the wife of a witness in an American trial of people traffickers has disappeared. Chen works with an American marshal to find the missing woman but is not so sure the other case is unrelated.

Although there is less day-to-day life, it was still the Chinese background and the constraints Chen works under which made this interesting - and of course the food.

When Red Is Black

Inspector Chen is taking vacation time to work on a translation and so takes something of a back seat in this story of the murder of a dissident writer, with most of the investigation being undertaken by Detective Yu.

It is still the picture of Chinese life during the transition from communism to a mixed economy under Deng Xiaoping that fascinates me, though the mystery element gets better with each installment. ( )