Chapters 1-4 Summary

Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong is a murder mystery set in China in the early 1990s. It is infused with the politics of the era in a country that is transitioning from Communism to a market driven economy. Chief Inspector Chen is an honorable cop with a strong sense of morals who attempts to solve the murder of a young Communist Party icon while maneuvering through the political ramifications of pursuing the case to its conclusion. Set in a country in the midst of monumental political and cultural changes, Death of a Red Heroine mixes poetry, politics and mystery in a thrilling quest for justice.

Chapter one begins with the basic facts of the crime. The body is discovered on May 11th, 1990 in a remote canal some twenty miles from Shanghai by the captain of a river patrol...