An Inspector Chen mystery
4 total works
"Fascinating . Xiaolong writes with both urgency and grace about modern China in another well-crafted mystery" - Booklist Starred Review
"Outstanding . Qiu's execution matches his ambition. Fans of mysteries about honest cops working for compromised regimes won't want to miss this one" - Publishers Weekly Starred Review
Inspector Chen is on the case of a serial murderer when he is called away to report on environmentalists trying to tackle the pollution issues in China.
Chief Inspector Chen and Detective Yu Guangming are brought into a serial murder case when the Homicide squad proves incapable of solving it. But before Chen can make a start, he is called away by a high-ranking Party member for a special assignment: to infiltrate a group of environmental activists meeting to discuss the pollution levels in the country and how to prompt the government into action.
Chen knows it will be a far from simple task, especially when he discovers the leader of the group is a woman from his past. Meanwhile, Yu is left to investigate a serial murder case on his own.
Both Chen and Yu face pressure from those above to resolve the cases in a satisfactory way . . . even if that means innocents face the punishment.
Inspector Chen is excluded from a poetry case as he awaits possible disciplinary action, leaving him to reflect on his career . . . but does his past hold a clue to the poetry case?
After a number of grueling cases Chief Inspector Chen is facing mounting pressure from his superiors, many of whom are concerned with where his loyalties lie. What's more, he is excluded from an investigation into an incendiary poem posted on an online forum.
Wracked with self-doubt and facing an anxious wait to discover the fate of his career, Chen is left to reflect on the events that have led to where he is now - from his amateur investigations as a child during the Cultural Revolution, to his very first case on the Shanghai Police Force.
Has fighting for the Chinese people and the morals he believes in put him in conflict with the Party? Why is he being kept away from the new case? As well as his career, is his life now also at risk?
Chen Cao has been removed from his chief inspector role, but that doesn't stop him investigating a 'private kitchen' murder that has similarities to a Judge Dee story.
No longer a chief inspector, Chen Cao finds himself as director of the Shanghai Judicial System Reform Office. To outsiders it's a promotion, but Chen knows he's being removed from the spotlight as he's immediately placed on involuntary 'convalescence leave' to stop him interfering with any cases. However, with various high-profile crimes making headlines and fears escalating over vigilante reprisals, Chen's superiors know he must at least appear active.
One case revolves around Min Lihau, a mingyuan, who runs a 'private kitchen' for powerful figures in Shanghai. Min's accused of murdering her assistant, yet Chen is struck by the similarities to a historic case involving the famous Judge Dee. When an acquaintance of his is murdered in connection with Min, Chen knows he can't stand idly by . . . but he must act in secret, under the cover of writing a Judge Dee novel.
