Review of "When Red is Black" by Qiu Xiaolong

This is the third outing of Inspector Chen Cao of the Shanghai Police. This time, the Inspector is taking a vacation because he is annoyed with the decisions of the current Party Secretary. On the side, Inspector Chan Cao has accepted a well-paying job to translate into English a business proposal for building a new complex of shops and restaurants to be built in Central Shanghai. Chan Cao's partner, Detective Yu, must take over a new investigation where a novelist has been murdered. All through the complicated investigation of the author's death, Yu consults with Chan Cao. Together they weather the complexities of the web of Communist officials and the mysterious workings of the local Triads.

This is an excellent mystery, but it is also an invitation to taste an entirely different culture and political life of the Shanghai and Chinese variation of Communism. It makes fascinating reading as we discover the crimes and the criminals that must be caught.