The Mao Case

Tucked away from the building sites of modern Shanghai are the beautiful mansions once owned by the smartest families in 1930s China. 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 who holds a glittering party each night: 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 fa ade. 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.

“'With strong and subtle characterisation, Qui Xiaolong draws us into a fascinating world where the greatest mystery revealed is the mystery of present-day China itself.'”

The usual enjoyable mix of murder, poetry and contractions of contemporary Chinese culture. Chen is a splendid creation, with his facility for quoting Tang Dynasty poetry and T S Eliot, his quiet devotion to his duty, his unhappy love life and his appreciation of good food. - Independent on Sunday

Praise for Qiu Xiaolong - :

Qiu Xiaolong is one of the brightest stars in the firmament of modem literary crime fiction. His Inspector Chen mysteries, set in Shanghai in the 1990s, dazzle as they entertain, combining crime with Chinese philosophy, poetry and food, Triad gangsters and corrupt officials. - Canberra Times, 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

A luminescent synthesis of thriller and literary novel - Independent on A LOYAL CHARACTER DANCER

Simply beautiful - Herald Sun, Australia

The sixth Inspector Chen series maintains the high standard set by its predecessors over the last three years . . . the society that Chen lives in is brilliantly evoked . . . In a word: absorbing - Townsville Bulletin

Stupendous - Fresh Air, National Public Radio, USA on DEATH OF A RED HEROINE

Qiu Xiaolong was born in Shanghai. The Cultural Revolution began in his last year of elementary school, and out of school, out of job, he studied English by himself in a local park. In 1977, he began his studies at East China Normal University in Shanghai, and then the Chinese Academy of Social Science in Beijing. In 1988, he came to Washington University in St. Louis, U.S. as a Ford foundation fellow to do a project on Eliot, but after the Tiananmen tragedy of 1989, he decided to stay on. He lives there still with his wife and daughter.

Tucked away from the building sites of modern Shanghai are the beautiful mansions once owned by the smartest families in 1930s China. 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 who holds a glittering party each night: 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 fa ade. 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.

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