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A review by book_concierge
A Loyal Character Dancer by Qiu Xiaolong
3.0
Book two in the Chief Inspector Chen Cao mystery series set in Shanghai. This one starts with a body found in Bund Park. But before Chen had really get started on investigating this murder, he’s tasked with a politically sensitive assignment. A U.S. Marshall, Catherine Rohn, is on her way to China to collect an important witness who has now disappeared. Chen must show Rohn a “modern China” and also find the missing woman.
I like this series. Chen is a complicated man. Educated and a poet, he walks the tightrope between political correctness and professional police duty. Like a master of chess, he is always thinking several steps ahead. While Xiaolong give the reader the same view of clues as Chen has, the reader is not always privy to Chen’s thinking about what he has observed.
This makes for a more slow-moving work than is typical for mysteries. But I didn’t mind that so much. I’ve been to Shanghai and other cities in China, and I appreciated the time spent on the history of this complex culture.
I really like Chen’s “apprentice,” Detective Yu, as well as Yu’s father “Old Hunter,” and hope they’ll continue to make appearances in future installments.
I like this series. Chen is a complicated man. Educated and a poet, he walks the tightrope between political correctness and professional police duty. Like a master of chess, he is always thinking several steps ahead. While Xiaolong give the reader the same view of clues as Chen has, the reader is not always privy to Chen’s thinking about what he has observed.
This makes for a more slow-moving work than is typical for mysteries. But I didn’t mind that so much. I’ve been to Shanghai and other cities in China, and I appreciated the time spent on the history of this complex culture.
I really like Chen’s “apprentice,” Detective Yu, as well as Yu’s father “Old Hunter,” and hope they’ll continue to make appearances in future installments.