Red Mandarin Dress

[Xiaolong] vividly details the human cost of a city (the new consumer crazy Shanghai) devouring itself … Yet even in these dangerous surroundings, culture and beauty endure and an honest man can still chart a path for good, no matter how perilous - Economist

The author’s heady plot highlights his strengths, elegantly capturing China in transition. A fascinating read. - Kirkus Reviews, starred review

‘Runaway capitalism can be held accountable for a multitude of social sins, but can it be blamed for the acts of a serial killer? That’s one of the many intriguing questions posed by the poet and translator Qiu Xiaolong in his latest Inspector Chen mystery, RED MANDARIN DRESS. The erudite Shanghai detective (who writes romantic poetry to clear his head) has to postpone his participation in an intensive course in classical Chinese literature when murder victims wearing identical mandarin dresses begin turning up around the city.

Are these aberrant crimes somehow linked to modern China’s struggle to contain the widespread corruption that accompanies unregulated economic growth? You bet. But the novel also contains pertinent references to the huge ideological upheaval of the Cultural Revolution - a subject that’s never far from the surface in this intelligent series - along with many poignant hints that once - New York Times

The creation of Inspector Chen Cao of the Shanghai Police Bureau is a very successful addition to the detective genre … a fresh, fast-paced detective thriller that will keep you turning those pages - Sunday Express

A weekly corpse ratchets up the brute pace of Xiaolong’s well-crafted pursuit, while Chen’s cerebral intuition provides an engrossing process of deduction. A theatrical denouement gives a sharp twist to the storytelling in a thriller that draws together China’s trouble political past and burgeoning capitalist present. - Financial Times

Atmospheric and rich in behind the scenes detail, Qiu Xiaolong’s mysteries pit the poetry-loving Inspector Chen of Shanghai against criminality and corruption in the new China … Morse of the Far East - Independent

Brilliant - NW Magazine, Australia

Qiu gives a fresh perspective on the forces shaping a new China and the influences of the Cultural Revolution and then Tiananmen in 1989. - Sunday Morning Post, Hong Kong