Inspector Chen and Me by Qiu Xiaolong

Inspector Chen and Me: A Collection of Inspector Chen Stories by Qui Xiaolong --- 150 pages

A collection of five stories, part fiction, part memoir, by the author of the much-praised Inspector Chen mystery series set in Shanghai, from the time of the Cultural Revolution until the current day.  The author is a poet, literary translator, crime novelist, critic, and academic, who lives in St. Louis and teaches at Washington University. He came to the University on a fellowship in 1988 to write a book about T. S. Eliot, but following the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, he decided to stay in America to avoid persecution by the Communist Party of China.

He has written ten books featuring Inspector Chen, all of which have received international critical acclaim. BBC Radio has produced dramatizations of all of his novels.  His newest Inspector Chen mystery, Hold Your Breath, China, should be out sometime this year.

Qui says he published these stories to answer the question he is often asked, about how much of his personal experience and history has gone into his character, Inspector Chen.

Highly recommended for anyone trying to understand the recent history of China.

Shanghai Redemption by Qiu Xiaolong

Shanghai Redemption: An Inspector Chen Novel by Qiu Xiaolong --- 308 pages

Tenth book in the Inspector Chen series combining police work, poetry and politics in modern China.

Chief Inspector Chen of the Shanghai police is a rarity in China, an honest and dogged investigator who has managed so far to walk a fine line between his responsibilites as head of Special Investigations Squad and the demands of the Communist Party.

But that delicate balance is disrupted when Chen is abruptly removed from his police position and "promoted" to the office of Director of the Shanghai Legal Reform Committee, where he is isolated, stripped of his police resources and a sitting duck for unknown powerful Party officials determined to cover up massive corruption and murder.

Trouble is, Chen doesn't know which of the politically sensitive cases he was handed caused the panic that led to his ouster, so how can he protect himself against the inevitable attacks that are coming?

What his enemies fail to realize however is that over the years of his career, Chen has built a network of highly unofficial connections inside and outside of the police and the Party.  These are people who will do what they can behind the scenes to help Chen out.

Qiu Xiaolong creates a compelling portrait of the New China's "socialist realities with Chinese characteristics," seen through the disillusioned eyes of one wary cop.

Qiu Xiaolong was born and raised in Shanghai, and now teaches at Washington University in St. Louis.

Click HERE to read a review from Kirkus.

Click HERE to read a review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read an interview with the author describing the real events that inspired Shanghai Redemption.