When Red is Black - Softcover

Qiu Xiaolong

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0340897570 ISBN 13: 9780340897577

Publisher: Sceptre, 2006

Synopsis

“Sublime . . . complex and riveting.”—Maureen Corrigan, The Washington Post Book World“A vivid picture of modern Chinese society . . . a work of real distinction.”— The Wall Street Journal“[A] terrific series. . . . [Qiu’s] perspective on China gives the mystery genre a cultural twist and unusual direction that make his books unique and well worth reading.”— The Rocky Mountain NewsInspector Chen Cao of the Shanghai Police Bureau is taking a vacation, in part because he is annoyed at his boss, Party Secretary Li, but also because he has been made an offer he can’t refuse by Gu, a triad-connected businessman. For what seems to be a fortune—with no apparent strings attached— he is to translate a business proposal for the New World, a complex of shops and restaurants to be built in Central Shanghai, evoking nostalgia for the “glitter and glamour” of the 1930s.It is up to Detective Yu, Chen’s partner, to take charge of a new case. Yin, a novelist, has been murdered in her room. At first it seems that only a neighbor could have committed the crime, but when one confesses, Yu cannot believe that he is really the killer. As Yu looks further into Yin’s life, ample motives begin to surface, even on the part of Internal Security. But it is only when Inspector Chen steps back into the investigation that the culprit is apprehended. And then Chen discovers how Gu has played him and how he, in turn, can play the new capitalist system.Qiu Xiaolong was born in Shanghai and received an MA in English and American literature in China. He received a PhD in comparative literature from Washington University in St. Louis, where he now teaches. He is the author of Death of a Red Heroine , which has now been translated into seven languages, and A Loyal Character Dancer , both available in paperback from Soho Crime.From the Trade Paperback edition.

About this title

About the Author

Qiu Xiaolong was born in Shanghai and received an MA in English and American Literature in China. He received a PhD in Comparative Literature from Washington University in St. Louis, where he now teaches. He is the author of Death of a Red Heroine, which has been translated into seven languages, and A Loyal Character Dancer.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* The third Inspector Chen mystery--the second, Death of a Red Heroine (2000), won the Anthony Award)--is set in today's Shanghai, a city of 13 million people and an uneasy mixture of political and cultural movements, new and refusing to die. What better way to navigate this city than through the adventures of the detectives who handle homicides and disappearances for the Special Case Squad, the unit that deals with politically sensitive crimes? Inspector Chen, a former English major, poetry lover, and dedicated gourmand, briefly steps aside here (he has a translation project taking up his vacation time) and lets his subordinate, the housing-oppressed Detective Yu, handle the murder of a dissident writer, the female author of a novel considered highly critical of the new China. This woman, who lived in a traditional Shanghai shikumen house, had become a social isolate in that most social of buildings. In a somewhat heavy-handed contrivance, Chen's translation project involves a proposal for a modern galleria based on the communal shikumen model, drawing him inevitably back into the investigation. The Chen mysteries proceed at a stately, slow pace, not unlike the meals that Chen enjoys. Plot is secondary to food, to poetry, to politics, and to Chen's highly complex character. For those with similar taste and metabolism, these are mysteries to savor. Connie Fletcher
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Edition details

• Publisher: Sceptre
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0340897570
• ISBN 13: 9780340897577
• Binding: Paperback