Shanghai

"Death of a red heroine" by Qiu Xiaolong takes place in China. The main venue is Shanghai. The date is 1990, which makes it more interesting for me because I was in China in 1992 and probably recognize the country in the book better than the country today. It is always interesting to find a new author and this book is his first in a series that is now 4 books long (3 of which my library has - how did they miss the fourth?), all featuring Chen Cao, a poetry writing detective inspector with the Shanghai police. (does anyone recognize the poetry writing cop - PD James, Adam Dalgleish perhaps?). There is an interesting interview with Qiu Xiaolong to be found here ( by another mystery writer Cara Black) or here (NPR, more recent of the two).