There are 13 books in the Inspector Chen Mysteries series. The newest book is Love and Murder in the Time of Covid .

1
Death of a Red Heroine

Book cover of Death of a Red Heroine
Qiu Xiaolong's Anthony Award-winning debut introduces Inspector Chen of the Shanghai Police.

A young “national model worker,” renowned for her adherence to the principles of the Communist Party, turns up dead in a Shanghai canal. As Inspector Chen Cao of the Shanghai Special Cases Bureau struggles to trace the hidden…
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2
A Loyal Character Dancer

Book cover of A Loyal Character Dancer

Now a BBC Radio 4 Drama Series.

Former dancer and party loyalist Wen Liping vanishes in rural China just before she was to leave the country. Her husband, a key witness against a smuggling ring suspected of importing aliens to the US, refuses to testify until she is found and…

3
When Red Is Black

Book cover of When Red Is Black

Now a BBC Radio 4 Drama Series.

When Inspector Chen Cao agrees to do a translation job for a Triad-connected businessman he is given a laptop, a 'little secretary' to provide for his every need, medical care for his mother. There are, it seems, no strings attached . . .…

4
A Case of Two Cities

A Case of Two Cities

Now a BBC Radio 4 Drama Series.

Inspector Chen Cao of the Shanghai Police Bureau is summoned by an official of the Party to lead a highly charged corruption investigation. Tentacles have spread through the police force, the civil service, the vice trade and deep into the criminal underworld. The…

5
Red Mandarin Dress

Red Mandarin Dress

Now a BBC Radio 4 Drama Series.

Political corruption, capitalist greed and past injustices are all revealed when Inspector Chen investigates a serial killer in Shanghai.

An early morning jogger found her. Clad in nothing but a red mandarin dress, she had been dumped, barely concealed, on a traffic island.…

6
The Mao Case

Book cover of The Mao Case

Now a BBC Radio 4 Drama Series.

Tucked away from the building sites of modern Shanghai are the beautiful mansions once owned by the smartest families in 1930s China. They have since been bought by rich businessmen and high-ranking members of the Communist Party. All except one.

The owner is…

7
Don't Cry, Tai Lake

Book cover of Don't Cry, Tai Lake

Now a BBC Radio 4 Drama Series.

When Chief Inspector Chen Cao is offered a week's break at a luxurious resort near Lake Tai, he accepts immediately. Increasingly worn out by the politics of his job, the opportunity to relax and recover sounds like heaven.
But the beautiful lake he…

8
Enigma of China

Book cover of Enigma of China

Chief Inspector Chen Cao never had a choice about his career. A poet by training, he was assigned to the Shanghai Police Department after college. To his own surprise, he became an excellent detective, and now he's in line to take over the top political position in the department. Which…

9
Shanghai Redemption

Shanghai Redemption

Now a BBC Radio 4 Drama Series.

'The system has no place for a cop who puts justice above the interests of the Party. It's a miracle that I survived as long as I did.'

For years, Chen Cao managed to balance the interests of the Communist Party and the…

10
Hold Your Breath, China

Book cover of Hold Your Breath, China
"Fascinating... Xiaolong writes with both urgency and grace about modern China is another well-crafted mystery" - Booklist Starred Review

Inspector Chen is on the case of a serial murderer when he is called away to report on environmentalists trying to tackle the pollution issues in China.

Chief Inspector Chen and…

11
Becoming Inspector Chen

Book cover of Becoming Inspector Chen
Inspector Chen is excluded from a poetry case as he awaits possible disciplinary action, leaving him to reflect on his career . . . but does his past hold a clue to the poetry case?

After a number of grueling cases Chief Inspector Chen is facing mounting pressure from his…

12
Inspector Chen and the Private Kitchen Murder

Book cover of Inspector Chen and the Private Kitchen Murder

Chen Cao has been removed from his chief inspector role, but that doesn't stop him investigating a 'private kitchen' murder that has similarities to a Judge Dee story.

No longer a chief inspector, Chen Cao finds himself as director of the Shanghai Judicial System Reform Office. To outsiders it's a…