By Britni Virgil
If you are a mystery aficionado and like to be taken to China, this is the book for you. Chinese author Qiu Xialong's Death of a Red Heroine takes the reader to mid-1990s Shanghai, a time when the country is just getting into its hyper-capitalist binge. The protagonist is Inspector Chen Cao of the Shanghai Police Bureau, Special Case Branch, which essentially means he is in charge of politically sensitive cases. Aside from being a detective, a job assigned to him by the all-powerful Party, the protagonist is also a poet, a translator of English mystery novels, and a gourmand. When a woman known as The Red Heroine, a role model citizen for The Party, is found floating in a Shanghai canal, Inspector Chen is called to investigate the murder. ... More...
