Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong (Sceptre)

Qui Xiaolong was born in Shanghai, China and went to the United States in 1988 to write a book about T.S. Eliot. Then in 1989, The Tiananmen Square Massacre happened, so he decided to remain in the U.S. to avoid persecution back home. 

Death of a Red Heroine is the first book in his series of crime novels featuring Police Inspector Chen Cao who works for the Shanghai Police Department. Cao was a rising star in The Communist Party of the Republic of China and was on the road to become a diplomat. Unfortunately, one of his uncles was found to be a counter-revolutionary so he was assigned to his current position.

In Communist China, even if a distant relative is found to be a counter-revolutionary or if some relative had committed a crime, no matter how minor, it can affect one’s standing in getting a promotion or not. Chen was lucky. Although he was considered “an educated youth” who graduated from high school, he was not sent to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution “to be reeducated by poor and lower-middle peasants”.

Fortune seemed to smile down upon Chen as he is assigned his own apartment, which is another social problem of living in Shanghai. During Chen’s housewarming party, he receives a call from his colleague, Detective Yu Guangming. The body of a young, naked woman was found in a remote area of a canal.

Chen is head of the “special case” department and does not usually deal with homicide cases. However, Detective Yu says there’s nobody else to handle the case that particular day so he goes out to investigate it. Normally, their squad didn’t have to take a case until it was declared “special” by the bureau, usually for an unstated political reason. 

It has been four days and still no one has filed a missing persons report. Chen is still contemplating whether to take the case or not but first decides to ask his friend who is also the medical examiner who did the autopsy to give him a detailed description of the victim. Once he gets the information, he faxes it along with a picture of the deceased to various units and surprisingly receives a response in the following week. 

The picture is recognized by a security guard at the Shanghai First Department store. The woman had said she was going on vacation but had not returned. Chen shows the picture to the people who worked with her and they all recognize her. Her name was Guan Hongying. “Guan for closing the door. Hong for the color red, and Ying for heroine”. “Red Heroine”. Chen remembers her name. She had been a National Model Work and a Party member. 

However, this is the only information that Chen and Yu has but Chen decides that their branch would take the case. He informs his superior that he will treat it as any homicide case and because the victim was a well-known celebrity, he will keep her name out of the news and press. 

As their investigation progresses, it leads them to their number one suspect —Wu Xiaoming, the son of a powerful Communist Party official. People like Wu Xiaming are informally called H.C.C., High Cadre’s Children. They often behave as if they are above the law, believing no one can touch them because their parents are in a position that puts fear into the lives of normal people. 

Once Chen Cao’s superior becomes aware of who their primary suspect is, a lot of pressure is put on him to deter him from continuing the investigation. Chen knows that it is best to toe the Party Line but he cannot in good conscience give up the investigation although he knows that he could be relieved of his duty or worse yet, be taken off the force. Will Chen Cao follow orders or will he continue the investigation knowing the results might put an end to his career?

It’s not hard to imagine the Republic of China putting the government and the Communist Party first and foremost above everything else. I also imagine the H.C.C. are quite similar in attitudes to children of diplomats, especially embassy kids, whom I have had the misfortune of having to deal with when I worked retail. But if there are more people like Detective Chen Cao in China, then I do see hope for China’s future. ~Ernie Hoyt