Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong

Qiu Xiaolong’s debut novel “Death of a Red Heroine” introduces Chief Inspector Chen Cao of the Shanghai Police and won the Anthony Award for best first novel in 2011. This is my first taste of a crime novel written in English by a Chinese author. I must say it is quite different from those written by Western authors. There is minimal violence and gore. And the reader gets introduced to quite a fair bit of poetry.

Qiu Xiaolong (Chinese: 裘小龙) was born in Shanghai in 1953 and was an associate professor at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences with a keen interest in English literature and and translation. In 1988 he travelled to Washington to work on a book on T.S. Eliot but after the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre in 1989, he chose to remain in America to avoid persecution by the Communist regime of China.

Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong

Set in Shanghai during the 1990s this crime novel highlights the economic and political turmoil in China at a time when the old ways were clashing with the new. Guan Hongying, a  young “National Model Worker,” renowned for her adherence to the principles of the Communist Party, was found dead in a Shanghai canal.

Chief Inspector Chen Cao,  a member of Shanghai Special Cases Bureau, is assigned to take charge of the murder case. As the inspector and his comrade Detective Yu make headway in the case, they find themselves hampered by political overtones when the main suspect turns out to be a rising political figure and a HCC (high cadre children). Inspector Chen needs to tread carefully as his career may end because of his investigation. Despite that, he tiptoes around his superior to get to the bottom of the murder, risking his career to see justice done.

The author, himself a poet and critic, peppers the story with poignant poetry and references to ancient Chinese literature. I find the novel a very welcome respite from the typical crime novel.