“Xiaolong knows that words can save your soul and in his pungent, poignant mystery, he proves it on every page.” - Chicago Tribune
“A marvelously assured debut . . . Engrossing, immensely readable.” - The Wall Street Journal
“Qiu Xiaolong's award-winning debut introduces Inspector Chen of the Shanghai Police.
A young ‘national model worker,’ renowned for her adherence to the principles of the Communist Party, turns up dead in a Shanghai canal. As Inspector Chen Cao of the Shanghai Special Cases Bureau struggles to trace the hidden threads of her past, he finds himself challenging the very political forces that have guided his life since birth. Chen must tiptoe around his superiors if he wants to get to the bottom of this crime, and risk his career—perhaps even his life—to see justice done.”