Red Mandarin Dress

by Qiu Xiaolong

324 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 3, 2009

About the author

Qiu Xiaolong (裘小龙) was born in Shanghai, China. He is the author of the award-winning Inspector Chen series of mystery novels, Death of a Red Heroine (2000), A Loyal Character Dancer (2002), When Red Is Black (2004), A Case of Two Cities (2006), Red Mandarin Dress (2007), and The Mao Case (2009). He is also the author of two books of poetry translations, Treasury of Chinese Love Poems (2003) and Evoking T'ang (2007), and his own poetry collection, Lines Around China (2003). Qiu's books have sold over a million copies and have been published in twenty languages. He currently lives in St. Louis with his wife and daughter.

Reviews

[Mike McAdam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's say 3.5. I was going to go with 3 but I really liked the ending so 3.5 rounding up. I read these books for the alphabet challenge and the X author is always tricky so thank heavens for this book series about a Chinese detective. I thought the case was interesting. This book suffered a little from something that bugs me about certain detective novels. Sometimes they set up the case and then the detectives make no progress at all for a very long time (not necessarily unrealistic but doesn't make for a great read). Once this got going (which took a little too long), I was in! It got better and better and I loved the end. So a qualified thumbs up and I will keep reading this series.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captivating story

This is a comprehensive story that I considered a historical fiction of life in China after the Cultural Revolution. Chinese readers will be able to relate to the dreadful government mandates that impacted the lives of their ancestors’ life in China. Also interwoven into the story are excuisite Chinese prepared dishes accompanied by delicious sprinkling of poetry.

[Richard Feinberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unique style and ritiving

Every detective series story has a unique telling position. The authors use of Chinese attitudes, history, and poetry is enlightening and entertaining. Educational and engrossing is a unique combination. I have read the series to this point and will continue