The previous novels in Qiu Xiaolong’s Chen Cao series, Death of a Red Heroine and A Loyal Character Dancer were both wonderful. This entry continues that trend. As always, the interesting thing is not so much the mystery itself, but instead the glimpse of life in Communist (but changing) China. And in the book, Xiaolong writes even more about the effects of the Cultural Revolution on academics. It’s a favorite theme of his. First they are in vogue, then they are sent to the countryside to rehabilitate themselves, then the Cultural Revolution is over and they are back in vogue again.
The mystery centers around a Red Guard who was sent to the countryside. There she married an academic, labelled as a rightist. He died at the hands of the authorities, more or less. Years later, the Red Guard, Yin Lige, writes a novel about the experience, and is labelled a dissident because it doesn’t show China in the best of lights. Only now she’s murdered, and the Communist Party doesn’t want to look like it’s murdering it’s dissidents, so the political case group (Chen Cao’s) is brought in to clear them, essentially. Chen Cao is on vacation though, so his deputy, Detective Yu Guangming runs the case.
The second story is of Chen Cao, who has taken a translation case on his vacation. He is to translate a 50 page business proposal into English for an exorbitant amount of money. Enough to make things much better for him for a long time. This plot highlights the new capitalist version of China, and sets it to be compared against the previous versions as shown in the detective case. Chen helps on the political crime by phone while he’s doing his translation.
The crime turns out to be much less than you would think, but how to acceptably prove it. And the business proposal turns out to be a lot more than you would think, with Chen getting a little secretary
from the businessman to help him do the translation. The term is often used to describe mistresses, and Chen is not sure what to do. In the end, the whole thing puts him in an awkward position.
First rate characters and story. I haven’t even described half of it. There’s just so much that Xiaolong packs into this.
Title: When red is black
Author: Qiu Xiaolong (裘小龙)
Series: Chen Cao book 3
Publisher: Soho
Format: Paperback
Length: 310 p.
Publication date: 2004
ISBN-10: 1-56947-396-X
Subject: Chen, Inspector (Fictitious character) — Fiction
Subject: Police &mdash ;China — Fiction
Subject: Translating and interpreting — Fiction
Subject: Real estate developers — Fiction
Subject: Shanghai (China) — Fiction
LC classification: PS3553.H537 W47 2004
