When red is black

When the murder of novelist Yin Lige is reported to the Shanghai police while Inspector Chen Cao is on vacation, Chen's partner Sargeant Yu is forced to take charge of the investigation. At first it seems that only a neighbor could have committed the crime as the building is kept locked at night. As Yu looks further into Yin's life, ample motives begin to surface, but it is only when Inspector Chen steps back into the investigation that the culprit is apprehended.

"Like its predecessors Death of a Red Heroine (2000) and A Loyal Character Dancer (2002), Qiu's third Inspector Chen mystery provides an insightful look into modern China. When Yin Lige, the author of a banned book, is found murdered in her Shanghai apartment, detective Yu Guangming and his boss, Chief Inspector Chen Cao, must solve a case that may have far-reaching political and social implications. (The "red" of the title refers to Mao Zedong's Red Guard, the "black" to the supposed enemies of the working class denounced during the Cultural Revolution.) Yu doggedly pursues all leads, even as personal misfortunes threaten to ruin his life. Chen must help from afar as he takes time off to earn extra income translating business documents for an ambitious entrepreneur. Suspects range from the poignant 'shrimp woman,' who peels shrimp for a living, to possible enemies from the distant past. Yu soon uncovers the long-ago romance between the victim and Yang Bing, a college professor. This love affair, delicately rendered, allows the author to include many fragile but beautiful Chinese poems. Deftly depicting a China fractured along class and party lines even in matters of love, Qiu also dramatically demonstrates how the past affects the daily lives of Chinese people today."--Publishers Weekly review.