Xiaolong Qiu

"Minutes before he is asked to investigate a murder involving renowned poetress and courtesan Xuanji, Judge Dee receives a cryptic note attached to a knife: 'A high-flying dragon will have something to regret!' With the warning fresh in his mind, he knows he must tread carefully for fear of upsetting those high above, or he could regret it . . ."--

Published originally in the pages of Le Monde, this collection of linked short stories by Qiu Xiaolong has already been a major bestseller in France (Cite de la Poussiere Rouge) and Germany (Das Tor zur Roten Gasse), where it and the author was the subject of a major television documentary. The stories in Years of Red Dust trace the changes in modern China over fifty years-from the early days of the Communist revolution in 1949 to the modernization...

When the murder of a woman is reported to the Shanghai police while Inspector Chen is on vacation, Sergeant Yu is forced to take charge of the investigation. The victim, Yin Lige, a novelist known for her banned book, has been found dead in her tiny, humble room off the stairwell of a converted multi-family house. It seems that only a neighbor could have committed the crime, for the building is kept locked at night. But there is no apparent motive....

"The system has no place for a cop who puts justice above the interests of the Party. It's a miracle that I survived as long as I did." For years, Chen Cao managed to balance the interests of the Communist Party and the promises made by his job. He was both a Chief Inspector of Special Investigations of the Shanghai Police Department and the deputy party secretary of the bureau. He was considered a potential rising star in the Party until, after...

In line for the top politic position of the Shanghai Police Department, Chief Inspector Chen Cao is drawn into the investigation of a major party member's son, whose suspicious suicide in the face of corruption charges forces Chen to make a difficult choice.

"Chief Inspector Chen and Detective Yu Guangming are brought into a serial murder case when the Homicide squad proves incapable of solving it. But before Chen can make a start, he is called away by a high-ranking Party member for a special assignment: to infiltrate a group of environmental activists meeting to discuss the pollution levels in the country and how to prompt the government into action.Chen knows it will be a far from simple task, especially...