Despite some poor editing, I thoroughly enjoyed Don't Cry, Tai Lake. It is a fitting addition to the series (though it would not make a good entry point into the Chen stories.) The author steeps the novel in a long environmental poem translated from one he wrote in Chinese 20 years earlier that had been heretofore unpublished. The murder mystery here is mostly a foil for a lengthy discussion of China's looming environmental disaster in the face of rapid-economic and industrial development and of the difficulties of being an activist for an unpopular cause. Chen, as always walks a fine line between maintaining his status as a rising party cadre, a Chief Inspector, and a man of principle. It is interesting that as I read this weekend, another persecuted Chinese dissident is being flown to the United States. m 65