The eighth novel in Qiu Xiaolong's acclaimed Chinese crime series sees Inspector Chen confronted by a terrible choice between Party politics or his principles - with his career at stake

Now a BBC Radio 4 Drama Series. Shanghai in 1990. An ancient city in a country that despite the massacre of Tiananmen Square is still in the tight grip of communist control. Chief Inspector Chen, a poet with a sound instinct for self-preservation, knows the city like few others. When the body of a prominent Communist Party member is found, Chen is told to keep the party authorities informed about every lead. Also, he must keep the young woman's murder out of the papers at all costs. When his investigation leads him to the decadent offspring of high-ranking officials, he finds himself instantly removed from the case and reassigned to another area. Chen has a choice: bend to the party's wishes and sacrifice his morals, or continue his investigation and risk dismissal from his job and from the party. Or worse . . .

"Dark, gorgeous...feels authentically Chinese and it works like a charm." --Washington Post Book World on A Case of Two Cities Chief Inspector Chen Cao of the Shanghai Police Department is offered a bit of luxury by friends and supporters within the Party – a week's vacation at a luxurious resort near Lake Tai, a week where he can relax, and recover, undisturbed by outside demands or disruptions. Unfortunately, the once beautiful Lake Tai, renowned for its clear waters, is now covered by fetid algae, its waters polluted by toxic runoff from local manufacturing plants. Then the director of one of the manufacturing plants responsible for the pollution is murdered and the leader of the local ecological group is the primary suspect of the local police. Now Inspector Chen must tread carefully if he is to uncover the truth behind the brutal murder and find a measure of justice for both the victim and the accused.

Chen Cao has been removed from his chief inspector role, but that doesn’t stop him investigating a ‘private kitchen’ murder that has similarities to a Judge Dee story. No longer a chief inspector, Chen Cao finds himself as director of the Shanghai Judicial System Reform Office. To outsiders it’s a promotion, but Chen knows he’s being removed from the spotlight as he’s immediately placed on involuntary ‘convalescence leave’ to stop him interfering with any cases. However, with various high-profile crimes making headlines and fears escalating over vigilante reprisals, Chen’s superiors know he must at least appear active. One case revolves around Min Lihau, a mingyuan, who runs a ‘private kitchen’ for powerful figures in Shanghai. Min’s accused of murdering her assistant, yet Chen is struck by its similarities to a historic case involving the famous Judge Dee. When an acquaintance of his is murdered in connection with Min, Chen knows he can’t stand idly by . . . but he must act in secret, under the cover of writing a Judge Dee novel.

Three paranormal mysteries in an “exotic amalgam of police procedural, SF, comic fantasy, and horror . . . a delight from start to finish” (Locus). Det. Inspector Wei Chen of Singapore Three’s Thirteenth Precinct is “a detective whose beat reaches to the fringes of Heaven and Hell” (Booklist). Along with his demon partner from Hell’s vice squad, Zhu Irzh, Chen is the man to turn to for paranormal problems that are literally out of this world. Snake Agent: This “entertaining supernatural mystery” introduces an occult detective who is as serious as his beat is strange (Publishers Weekly). With a demon for his beloved wife, Det. Inspector Wei Chen possesses a comfort with the supernatural that most mortals cannot match. But his journey to Hell to find the waylaid ghost of Pearl Tang, the deceased daughter of a wealthy industrialist, will take him further into the abyss than ever before—to a mystifying place where he will need the help of a demonic detective to survive. Getting into Hell is easy. Getting out is another story. “Snake Agent combines disparate elements of Chinese mythology, urban fantasy, science fiction and mystery to create a rich milieu and a highly entertaining story.” —Jacqueline Carey, New York Times–bestselling author The Demon and the City: In this “wildly imaginative” second novel, demon Zhu Irzh has been assigned to aid the Singapore Three police department as they investigate cases that overlap this world and the world to come (Publishers Weekly). With Detective Inspector Chen on a well-deserved vacation, Zhu Irzh’s first murder case involves the savage killing of a rich would-be witch outside of the occult market. Soon he’s unearthed a supernatural conspiracy that proves Hell holds no monopoly on evil. Chen just may have to cut his vacation short. “Uniquely imaginative . . . [a] surreal fusion of Chinese mythology, paranormal high jinks, and satisfyingly suspenseful sleuthing.” —Booklist Precious Dragon: Chen and Zhu Irzh have been assigned to escort the Heavenly functionary Mi Li Qi on a diplomatic mission to the underworld. Soon after they check in to their hellish hotel, Qi vanishes into the abyss. Now they must follow her into the bowels of a demonic bureaucracy, where they will be forced to dodge all manner of otherworldly dangers if they wish to avoid a political incident with apocalyptic ramifications. “One of the most colorfully imaginative packages in recent fantasy.” —Booklist

The second book in the Inspector Chen investigations Inspector Chen’s mentor in the Shanghai Police Bureau has assigned him to escort US Marshal Catherine Rohn. Her mission is to bring Wen, the wife of a witness in an important criminal trial, to the United States. Inspector Rohn is already en route when Chen learns that Wen has unaccountably vanished from her village in Fujian. Or is this just what he is supposed to believe? Chen resents his role; he would rather investigate the triad killing in Shanghai’s beautiful Bund Park. Li insists that saving face with Inspector Rohn takes priority. So Chen Cao, the ambitious son of a father who imbued him with Confucian precepts, must tread warily as he tries once again to be a good cop, a good man and also a loyal Party member.

Inspector Chen is excluded from a poetry case as he awaits possible disciplinary action, leaving him to reflect on his career . . . but does his past hold a clue to the poetry case? After a number of grueling cases Chief Inspector Chen is facing mounting pressure from his superiors, many of whom are concerned with where his loyalties lie. What's more, he is excluded from an investigation into an incendiary poem posted on an online forum. Wracked with self-doubt and facing an anxious wait to discover the fate of his career, Chen is left to reflect on the events that have led to where he is now - from his amateur investigations as a child during the Cultural Revolution, to his very first case on the Shanghai Police Force. Has fighting for the Chinese people and the morals he believes in put him in conflict with the Party? Why is he being kept away from the new case? As well as his career, is his life now also at risk?

"Fascinating... Xiaolong writes with both urgency and grace about modern China is another well-crafted mystery" - Booklist Starred Review Inspector Chen is on the case of a serial murderer when he is called away to report on environmentalists trying to tackle the pollution issues in China. 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 when he discovers the leader of the group is a woman from his past. Meanwhile, Yu is left to investigate a serial murder case on his own. Both Chen and Yu face pressure from those above to resolve the cases in a satisfactory way . . . even if that means innocents face the punishment.

Chief Inspector Chen Cao of the Shanghai Police Department finds himself caught up in a dangerous case when the bodies of two young women dressed in identical red mandarin dresses turn up, igniting fears of the city's first sexual serial killer.

Now a BBC Radio 4 Drama Series. When Inspector Chen Cao agrees to do a translation job for a Triad-connected businessman he is given a laptop, a 'little secretary' to provide for his every need, medical care for his mother. There are, it seems, no strings attached . . . Then a murder is reported: Chen is loath to shorten his working holiday, so Sergeant Yu is forced to take charge of the investigation. The victim, a middle-aged teacher, has been found dead in her tiny room in a converted multi-family house. Only a neighbour could have committed the crime, but there is no motive. It is only when Chen returns and starts to investigate the past that he finds answers. But by then he has troubles of his own.