A Loyal Character Dancer (Qiu Xiaolong)

This is the first book by Qiu Xiaolong I have read. I was interested in him because I had heard that he was a Chinese who had emigrated to the US, and had written his Inspector Chen detective novels in English. That, in itself, sounded like quite an accomplishment and impressed me. The first thing about Qiu is that his stories ring true. Shanghai in 2008 is vastly different from Shanghai in 1993, but the characters, places and customs are still recognizable. This is not someone with a passing interest in China writing a detective story in China; this is the real thing. The story is about a young woman, whose idealistic youth was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, where she was raped by a man who later married her when she became pregnant. Eventually, she rebuilt her life slowly after leaving her husband, but now had become caught up in a criminal case. Because she was pregnant with a son, her husband, who had made her life a misery during the Cultural Revolution, had aske... Read more

This is Xiaolong Qiu's second novel starring Chief Inspector Chen Cao. Chen is an up and coming member of the new Cadre and has been hand picked by Party Secretary Li and senior members of the Politburo to handle a very sensitive case. This case is the first joint liaison with the American US Marshalls related to people smuggling. Of course the 'man' the US sends is a woman who speaks a very servicable mandarin chinese. An of course being an American, she is attractive, well spoke, and blond. The sections of the book that deal with Triads and people smuggling are good, as is the sections on the lingering effects of the "Cultural Revolution" and the re-education of the 'educated-ones'. But when he gets into the culture of poetry and the meanings of the old sayings I was looking for 'number one son to jump out and say, What do you think Pop?' Qiu walks a fine line between explaining chinese history, the errors of the communist party and the changes evoked by Deng Xiaoping. T... Read more

I was really looking forward to the second installment in the Inspector Chen series but was quite disappointed in this book. Detective Yu, a primary character in the first novel, barely made an appearance in this one, instead too much time is devoted to the character Detective Rohn, an American working for the U.S. Marshall's office. Frankly she just isn't that interesting, she seems like a caricature of an American woman, blond, pretty, not all that smart save for an occasional comment here and there, and worst of all close minded. I didn't really get into the "what could have been" romantic suggestion the author made about her and Chen, she was too condescedning towards the Chinese, I didn't think Chen, despite his own struggles within the political system, would really find her appealing. I also felt Qiu Xiaolong relied too heavily on plot devices he used in Death of Red Heroine, which were fabulous the first time but formulaic here. It seemed like Inspector Chen doesn't really w... Read more

The book contains all the ingredients that make a mystery good -- a puzzling crime, dialogs between characters whose implications are left for the reader to extract, and a plausible conclusion. However it was not for these elements alone that I enjoyed the book. In fact I had picked up the volume after hearing a review for it on NPR (National Public Radio). It was reported in that review that the book depicted the going-on in current China, in particular Shanghai very well. I found the statement to be well grounded. The fabrics of the city are of course delivered through the book's protagonist, chief inspector Chen Cao of the Shanghai police bureau. He is an intelligent 30-ish man of integrity who enjoys poetry and food. Because of his interest in poetry, readers are exposed to fragments of Chinese poetry throughout (for every 5 pages or so appears a fragment). His predilection towards food brings readers to the nooks and corners of Shanghai for gourmet Chinese food and specialties.... Read more

I'd heard good things about Qiu's first book, Death of a Red Heroine, but was only able to get my hands on his second book, ALCD. I picked it up eagerly, not because I like mystery fiction generally, but I am interested in the political and cultural environment of China. I was surprised to find the book a bit dull. I liked the detailed descriptions about life in china, but I found the characters not particularly interesting and the story kind of pedestrian. Moreover, I found the attraction between Chen and Rohn very grating, but that's prob because I hate romantic stuff in non-romance books. Seemed very hollywood to me. In fact, wouldn't be at all surprised if the book was made into a movie. Anyway, I would still recommend reading the book because it does paint a very interesting portrait of life in china and it's always a good thing to support authors there. If you are interested in reading more chinese authors, check out Mo Yan. Cheers.