Tucked away from the building sites of modernShanghai are the beautiful mansions once owned by the smartest families in 1930sChina. They have since been bought by rich businessmen and high-ranking members of the Communist Party. All except one. The owner is an old painter. Each day he teaches his students, all beautiful girls in their twenties. Each night he holds a glittering party: swing jazz plays for his former neighbours, who dance, remember old times and forget for an evening the terrors that followed. But questions are being asked. How can he afford such a lifestyle? His paintings? Blackmail? A triad connection? Prostitution? Inspector Chen is asked to investigate discreetly what is going on behind the elegant facade. But, before he can get close to anyone, one of the girls is found murdered in the garden and another is terrified she will be next. Chen's quest for answers will take Chen to a strange businessman, triads, Chairman Mao himself and a terrible secret the Party will go to any length to conceal.

Recensione

Xiaolong's astute rendering of the many contradictions of contemporary Chinese life centres on the brilliant Inspector Chen . . . A series that might well get you hooked. (Sunday Telegraph)

Chen has been likened to Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse in his cerebral sleuthing; he also has a glass-half-empty ambivalence towards his political masters...a meditation on power, myth and the policing of history. (Independent)

Chen is a great creation, an honourable man in a world full of deception and treachery. (Guardian)

With strong and subtle characterisation, Qiu Xiaolong draws us into a fascinating world where the greatest mystery revealed is the mystery of present-day China itself. (John Harvey)

The first police whodunnit written by a Chinese author in English and set in contemporary China . . . its quality matches its novelty. (The Times)

The usual enjoyable mix of murder, poetry and contradictions of contemporary Chinese culture. Chen is a splendid creation. (Independent on Sunday)

A vivid portrait of modern Chinese society . . . full of the sights, sounds and smells of Shanghai . . . A work of real distinction. (Wall Street Journal)

Qiu Xiaolong is one of the brightest stars in the firmament of modern literary crime fiction. His Inspector Chen mysteries dazzle as they entertain, combining crime with Chinese philosophy, poetry and food, Triad gangsters and corrupt officials. (Canberra Times, Australia)

Gripping . . . Chen stands in a class with Martin Cruz Smith's Russian investigator, Arkady Renko, and P.D. James's Scotland Yard inspector, Adam Dalgliesh. (Publishers Weekly)

Wonderful. (Washington Post)

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