Windows To The World

Yesterday I ran into a man  who late in his life has finally gotten to fulfill a dream of his - to go to China. He believes that in the next several hundred years China will continue to be dominant in world affairs. After all the Chinese hold our debt that we may never get out from under. 


In preparation for his trip he has read China: A History by John Keay  and On China by Henry Kissinger.


 
 I had to recommend Qiu Xiaolong for his subtle way of gently teaching Chinese customs, cuisine and history mixed with a great mystery.





In this story  a young woman has been found on the safety island in the middle of a busy Shanghai road. She was wearing a red mandarin dress made a few decades past. Inspector Cao Chen is engaged on a case of real estate corruption and at the same time he is trying to pursue his literature studies.  The case is turned over to Detective Yu Guangming who is Chen’s partner. Everybody is startled when a second young woman is found dumped and displayed in a similar fashion. A serial killer is the first one of his kind in Shanghai and the public is stirred by the loss of two women in their flowering age.


This is the best of the Inspector Chen series so far. Chen's approach to solving this case has less to do with forensics and more with history.