The Mao Case
July 12th 2009 00:58
The Mao Case
Qiu Xiaolong
Despite the misleading blurbs this is actually a very literary and ironic work but beautifully balances the irony with solid investigation "foot work" by Chen and his team.
Qui's book functions as a satire on the recent publication of "bios" about Mao and of certain hypocrisies in Mao's personal life but there is also a couple of murders that are in themselves red herrings diverting Chen away from other crimes and delaying him to preventing another tragedy.
Qui as usual sneaks in as many snippets of translated classical poems and modern verse that he can get away with but he has done a particularly fine job of choosing snippets that reflect Chen's moods and fit into the story.
Most of the action is actually in Shanghai not Beijing though.
If you like Chinese poetry or books set in modern China and also like a solidly written murder mystery with a good spicing of irony and a dash of satire try Qiu Xiaolong's Inspector Chen series.
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