Qiu Xiaolong

Having mentioned the novels of Qiu Xiaolong, I thought I'd best elucidate. He published his first book in the Inspector Chen series in 2000: Death Of A Red Heroine. It won the Anthony Award for best first crime novel. I've read all 8 of the Chen mysteries and I'm hooked. Chen wanted to become a poet, but when he graduated the Communist Party told him to become a policeman. Good party members do what they're told. So he muses poetically while hunting murderers! The usual whodunit follows a string of boring clues to the denouement. Inspector Chen must negotiate a maze of party dogma, corrupt officials, equally corrupt policemen, Tong gangsters and his own conscience. It's all a very tangled web indeed. The novels are set in Shanghai (CLICK).