Shanghai in the mid-1990s is a city caught between reverence for the past and fascination with a tantalizing, market-driven present. When the body of a young "national model worker," revered for her adherence to the principles of the Communist Party, turns up in a canal, Chen is thrown into the midst of these opposing forces. As he struggles to unravel the hidden threads of this paragon's life, he finds himself challenging the very political forces that have guided his life since birth. With party-line-spouting superiors above him and detectives who resent his quick promotion beneath him, Chen finds himself wondering whether justice is a concept at all meaningful in late-20th-century China.

Death of a Red Heroine is a book hovering uneasily between the spheres of fiction and fact, creativity and didacticism. For much of the novel, author Qiu Xiaolong seems more intent on driving home the actions and consequences of the Cultural Revolution and its aftermath than on the slowly unfolding plot. Tedious repetitions of the fates, under Mao, of "educated youths" joust with both the actions of the detectives and Chen's "poetic" ruminations, which, unfortunately, are infected by precisely the stiffness and arbitrariness Qiu is at pains to decry in his historical passages. The moving couplets Chen favors are potentially fascinating insights into the interaction between ancient and modern China, but instead of provoking the reader into reflection, Qiu offers reductive explanations of each and every poem.

The moments when Qiu concentrates on invoking atmosphere are both illuminating and rewarding: Detective Yu's wife's pride and pleasure in having brought home a dozen crabs at "state price" are movingly well crafted, all the more so because Qiu seems almost unaware of what he is doing. Rather than lecturing on the economic dilemmas of the modern worker, he lets Peiqin's simple happiness speak for itself. In the last quarter of the book, Qiu seems to find his stride, though his writing style remains undeniably awkward. Here Chen expands and relaxes, and with him, the novel. Qiu's debut, though anything but polished, holds the promise of better things to come. --Kelly Flynn

Product Description

In this Anthony Award-winning debut, Inspector Chen of the Shanghai Police must find the murderer of a National Model worker, and then risk his own life and career to see that justice is done. A Loyal Character Dancer is the latest in Qiu's Shanghai series featuring Inspector Chen.

"A marvelously assured debut. . . . Engrossing, immensely readable."-The Wall Street Journal

Communist China makes for an instantly compelling and intriguing setting, as the police must wend their way through labyrinthine political considerations in a country where one's standing in the Party is paramount but change is clearly underway. The mystery and investigation proceed in a leisurely fashion, and the true challenge is not identifying the murderer, but being able to gather the necessary evidence and piecing together a motive.

Inspector Chen and Detective Yu are instantly likable and deeply-drawn characters, as is their circle of friends and family. Woven into the story are the their personal lives, which the author uses to paint a vivid picture of China just a decade ago. Most memorable are the cramped housing conditions, the continued reverence for elders, and the many many mouthwatering descriptions of food. Hardest to imagine for Western readers will be the influence of Party standing and its intrusion into personal relationships, especially when it comes to love.

This is a long, but never boring story that deserves wide readership amongst mystery readers as well as those with an interest in China. A well-deserved winner of the Edgar for best first novel.


A good mystery and a great picture of life in urban China   April 24, 2001
 16 out of 16 found this review helpful

This novel merits attention not only because it is excellent, but also because it is groundbreaking. As fas as I know, it is the first English-language police procedural set in contemporary China that is written by a Chinese author. Of course, I would love to be proven wrong on this since it would mean that there was other material out there for me to read. To my knowledge, most previous mysteries and thrillers set in China have been by Western authors. The most famous are probably van Gulik's classic Judge Dee mysteries. Unfortunately, more recently we have suffered from inane thrillers in which a Western protagonist becomes entangled in some sort of incomprehensible and fundamentally absurd political intrigue, confronts a series of diabolical but paper-thin villains, and receives assistance from some sort of beautiful and exotic love interest. Finally, with Red Heroine, we have a detective novel written by an insider with Chinese protagonists, Chinese villains, and only incidental roles for Westerners. I hope very much this is the beginning of a trend.

Now for my discussion of the novel itself. The novel worked well on three levels.

First of all, it was the sort of slow-paced, atmospheric police procedural that I like the most. In many ways, it reminds me de Wetering's Grijpstra and de Gier series, Mankell's Kurt Wallander novels, or Sjowall and Wahloo's Martin Beck novels. It uses a criminal case and the accompanying investigation as a lens through which to view contemporary society. The pace is leisurely, it provides a very strong sense of place, and has nicely realized, complex, and mostly authentic characters. So if you like reading about Grijpstra and de Gier, Wallender, or Beck, you will like this book.

Second, I thought it was an excellent and very authentic portrait of life in urban China in the 1990s. The author takes advantage of the possibilities offered by the narrative form of the procedural to introduce characters from many different walks of life and show how they have been affected by the turbulence of previous decades and by the uncertainty created by the rapid economic and political change of the 1990s. Generational conflicts, economic and social clevages, and political change all play a role. The portrait of life is so complete that I am weighing the possibility of assigning the novel when I teach my class on Chinese society next year. The book's focus on the mundane details of everyday life sets it apart from much of the other English-language fiction about China that seems to focus so much on the exotic.

Third, I really appreciated the quality of the prose. Reflecting perhaps the author's apparent background in literature, the imagery in many of the passages was really evocative. I have spent a fair amount of time in China, and the authors' descriptions of people's homes, restaurants, typical street scenes, and so forth all really resonated.

The novel is not perfect, reflecting perhaps the fact that it is the author's first published detective novel. I would like to have seen more of the intricate details of police work that help 'authenticate' procedurals. While interviewing and the gathering of forensic evidence was handled adequately, there were one or two places where the description fell flat. For example, on a couple of occasions when a character needs to go somewhere without being followed, the author simply states that the character 'made sure he wans't being followed.' This is a marked difference from, for example, Wahloo and Sjowall's "The Man Who Went Up in Smoke" where we get ample details of Martin Beck's attempts to evade surveillance while in Budapest. In this particular case, I was completely mystified as to how anyone in China who knew they the subject of special attention from the government could 'make sure they weren't being followed.'

Another very minor quibble I had was that the romanization of some of the names seemed problematic. A historical character named Liu Xiahui (the Liu Xiahui of "Zuo huai bu luan") was repeatedly referred to as Liu Xiawei. The Shenzhen SEZ was repeatedly referred to as Shengzhen. These point are of course minor, perhaps they will be dealt with when the novel is reprinted.

Overall this is an excellent mystery, and a nice picture of urban life in changing China. I am looking forward very much to the author's next work.


excellent,flavorful mystery   May 22, 2001
 14 out of 16 found this review helpful

Death of a Red Heroinetakes a police procedural to a new place: Modern china. Inspector Chen Cao is a poetry writing and loving special investigator,and here he lands a dangerous case. The "model party worker" who is fishes out of the water is not what she appears to be,and the inspector must go against his superiors and the "party interests" to solve the case. All of this is pretty mundane in this genre, though the locale,the heavy stench of mao and the cultural revolution linger throughout,along with the marvelous meals, and the excellent descriptions of daily life in "modern ' China. The delicacy of chinese manners comes across very well, the sexual retinence,the deep repect of elders still alive. Part sociology,part history mostly a damn good read. Unlucky in love,lucky in work, inspector Chen Cao is an interesting addition to the genre .The novel has many conventional mystery formulas, then takes different turns. Highly recommended!


Decline of the old guard   May 13, 2005
 10 out of 10 found this review helpful

I am not normally a fan of mysteries as a category of fiction but my wife makes up for my lack of interest with stacks of mysteries around the house. This first book by Qiu Xiolong struck my interest with its setting in Shanghai, China in early 1990 a year after Teanammen Square. The book does not disappoint; it is a splendid mix of historical fiction, political and social observation, with a newly appointed Chief Inspector Chen who is a wonderfully fully developed character (as are all the characters in the book). You're not going to read this because of the case, a rather traditional murder. Although the victim, the red heroine of the title, is compelling because she was a "model worker" member of the "Party" and thus a part of the elite. All this Xiaolong points out comes with a price. The fun begins as The Party, via Chen's superiors are all over him and his partner Yu attempting to direct, control, delay and halt the investigation to protect the Party, and thus the country. How this all plays out in the plot are the twists and turns one expects from a good mystery. The book's structure is basically just a police procedural. However, this outstanding book is much more as it delivers the reader into the world of 1990 Shanghai with details in character and environment in a strange landscape of a political and economic system in a paranoid transition. The basic plot point is the decline of privileges of the old guard and their sense of entitlement vs. capitalism that Chen and his generation realize requires fairness and justice if it is to work. My only negative comments are that the actual murder case and motive is not that creative although it works and services the story. And, don't your just hate it when a compelling character and love interest, in this case a local reporter named Wang, just keeps calling Chen and....... (Well I won't spoil it for you except to say in my opinion Xialong missed the boat on the Wang/Chen relationship). I can not convey how much I both enjoyed this book and how I am sure you will too.


Shanghai Surprise!   June 16, 2000
 9 out of 10 found this review helpful

I read books to either A.) be entertained, or B.) to learn something. In The Death of a Red Heroine, I got both. While not a traditional whodunit, it still provides plenty of mystery. I also learned something about Chinese culture and politics, without having to read a dry textbook. I highly recommend this book, and look forward to the next installment with Inspector Chen.