title: Death of a Red Heroine (An Inspector Chen Investigation)
author: Qiu Xiaolong
description: <b><b><u><b>Praise for </b></u></b><i><b><u><b>Death of a Red Heroine</b></u></b><br /><br /></i>Winner of the Anthony Award for Best First Novel<br />Nominee for the Edgar Award for Best First Novel<br /><b>BookRiot 100 Must-Read Novels of Noir</b><i><br /></i></b><br /> A marvelously assured debut . . . Engrossing, immensely readable.<br /><b></b><i><b>The Wall Street Journal<br /></b></i><br /> Xiaolong knows that words can save your soul and in his pungent, poignant mystery, he proves it on every page.<br /><b></b><i><b>Chicago Tribune</b><br /></i><br /> Stupendous . . . [with a] hard-boiled, intricate plot and subtly developed characters . . . A matchless pearl.<br /><b>Maureen Corrigan, NPRs <i>Fresh Air</i></b><br /><br /> <i>Death Of A Red Heroine</i> grabbed my imagination, took me on a slowly, intricately built journey that nevertheless felt sexy and slick, and kept me turning the pages deep into the night . . . A refreshingly brave exploration into political China, woven around a tense thriller and likeable, enigmatic characters.<br /><b>Huffington Post</b><br /><br /> A fascinating and thought-provoking read, rich in descriptions of delicious meals, beautiful gardens and impossibly cramped housing conditions. Not to be missed.<br /><b></b><i><b>The Guardian</b><br /></i><br /> A tale of murder, deception and politics that has the ring of authenticity.<br /><b></b><i><b>St. Louis Post-Dispatch</b><br /></i><br />An absolutely exquisite book (and I dont believe Ive ever before used this descriptor in a review!) . . . Qiu Xiaolongs attention to culture, politics, loyalty (to persons and to country), poetry, justice (whatever this may be), love, art more generally, law and order and the sacred and intimate relationship between the Chinese people and their food, all blend to form an intellectually stimulating, beautiful, and surprising work of art.<br /><b></b><i><b>Deadly Pleasures Magazine</b><br /><br /></i>Riveting and convincing.<br /><b></b><i><b>Far Eastern Economic Review</b><br /></i><br /> Xiaolong, a Chinese poet and literary critic, is adept at threading social commentary of China in the 1990s with his detective's movements through social strata in search of the killer . . . Xiaolong's first mystery may be the most impressive debut of the year.<br /><b></b><i><b>Booklist<br /></b></i><br /> This political mystery offers a peek into the tightly sealed, often crooked world of post-Tiananmen Square China . . . An impressive and welcome respite from the typical crime novel.<br /><b></b><i><b>Publishers Weekly</b><br /></i><br /> In his first novel, [Xiaolong] depicts a modern, changeable China, using focused prose, realistic depictions, and a very human protagonist.<br /><b></b><i><b>Library Journal</b><br /></i><br /> [Meet] the wonderful and complex Inspector Chen Cao, the ever-impecunious, couplet-quoting poet of the Shanghai Police Bureau. A wonderful, many-faceted gem of a book!<br /><b>William Marshall, The Yellowthread Street Mystery series</b><br /><br /> In <i>Death of a Red Heroine </i>China is not only the setting . . . The Partys attempts to recoup political legitimacy from the real setting for this mystery and cast a dark shadow over every step in its resolution. Raw, naked power is at the core of both the murder and its investigation, but its manifestations are anything but predictable in this splendid first work.<br /><b>Robert E. Hegel, Professor of Chinese and Comparative Literature, Washington University</b><br /><br /> A brilliant debut . . . I cannot imagine any readers, including fellow whodunit addicts, who would want to miss this fine novel, which makes a strong bid for a place in lasting literature.<br /><b>Mona Van Duyn, U.S. Poet Laureate, 19923</b><br /><br />A sheer delight.<br /><b>I Love a Mystery</b><br /><br /> Unique in that it combines the stringency and rigour of police work, the inflexibility of Communism and the need for artistic expression . . . The novel is a fascinating read.<br /><b></b><i><b>Mystery Review</b><br /></i><br /> The main character is three-dimensional and practically jumps off the pages. I am anticipating another case with Inspector Chen.<br /><b>The Snooper<br /></b> <br />Much more than a detective story, it is an elegant, true-to-life portrait of China today.<br /><b>Persimmon</b>
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   **Death of a Red Heroine**
  
  [Chief Inspector Chen Cao 01]
  
  **By Qiu Xiaolong**
  
  Scanned & Proofed By MadMaxAU
  
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  Chapter 1
  
    
    
  
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  he body was found at 4:40 p.m., on May 11, 1990, in Baili Canal, an out-of-
  the-way canal, about twenty miles to the west of Shanghai.
  
    
  
  Standing beside the body, Gao Ziling, captain of the _Vanguard,_ spat
  vigorously on the damp ground three times—a half-hearted effort to ward off
  the evil spirits of the day, a day that had begun with a long-anticipated
  reunion between two friends who had been separated for more than twenty years.
  
    
  
  It was coincidental that the _Vanguard,_ a patrol boat of the Shanghai River
  Security Department, should have ventured all the way into Baili around 1:30
  p.m. Normally it did not go anywhere close to that area. The unusual trip had
  been suggested by Liu Guoliang, an old friend whom Gao had not seen for twenty
  years. Th