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    A Loyal Character Dancer
    A Loyal Character Dancer
    A Loyal Character Dancer
    Audiobook12 hours

    A Loyal Character Dancer

    Written by Qiu Xiaolong

    Narrated by David Shih

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Inspector Chen's mentor in the Shanghai Police Bureau has assigned him to escort U.S. Marshal Catherine Rohn. Her mission is to bring Wen, the wife of a witness in an important criminal trial, to the United States. Inspector Rohn is already en route when Chen learns that Wen has unaccountably vanished from her village in Fujian. Or is this just what he is supposed to believe? Chen resents his role; he would rather investigate the triad killing in Shanghai's beautiful Bund Park. Li insists that saving face with Inspector Rohn takes priority. So Chen Cao, the ambitious son of a father who imbued him with Confucian precepts, must tread warily as he tries once again to be a good cop, a good man and also a loyal Party member.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJan 18, 2018
    ISBN9781977371065
    A Loyal Character Dancer
    Author

    Qiu Xiaolong

    Anthony Award winning author Qiu Xiaolong was born in Shanghai and moved to Washington University in St Louis, US, to complete a PhD degree in comparative literature. After the Tiananmen tragedy in 1989 he stayed on in St Louis where he still lives with his wife. Qiu's sold over two million copies of his Inspector Chen mysteries worldwide and been published in twenty languages. On top of his fiction, he is a prize-winning writer of poetry. All the titles in the Inspector Chen series, including Hold Your Breath, China, have been dramatized in BBC Radio 4 productions. www.qiuxiaolong.com

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    Reviews for A Loyal Character Dancer

    3.5/5

    179 ratings12 reviews

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    • 4/5
      The second book in the Inspector Chen series follows a few months after the first and finds the detective taking on the case of a gang-related murder in his favorite park and also a case of a missing woman, who is wanted by the American government as part of a plea bargain for her husband's testimony against a human trafficking trial in the states. Chen must work alongside an US Marshal and his initial frustration at the need to be her glorified tourist guide turns to something else as they begin to become friends, and possibly more than friends. I thought the pacing in this one was a little slower than in the first book and at the same time I had trouble keeping the various details of the story sorted out in my head. Still, I like Inspector Chen and may eventually continue with the series.
    • 4/5
      This is the second in Xiaolong's Detective Chen series, and you can see the difference--this second installment is much more balanced, so that the few things which got on my nerves in the first book, much as I loved it, have been dialed back in favor of a more involved mystery. It also builds on the characters, of course, in a way that makes me thinks it is a good idea to read this series in order more than might be necessary with some mystery/suspense series built around a detective. It did get more complicated than the first, to the extent that I almost wanted it to be a bit simpler, but I have a feeling that had more to do with my own distractions this week, and less to do with the book itself. All in all, I'm excited to read the next in the series, and wouldn't certainly recommend these books.
    • 4/5
      Synopsis: Once again Investigator Chen has to work around the bureaucracy to solve a murder and what appears to be a gangland kidnapping threat. Working with a woman from the US Marshal's office, he has to find a woman who is to meet her husband in the States so that he will testify about gang activity. There is also a killing near the Bund that may also be gang activity. Within all of this, his boss is trying to 'save face' with the Americans and to keep Chem from getting to close to the truth about how connected to gangs the politicos are.Review: There are some slow places, but this book brings more action than the last and makes me wonder whether the main character will ever 'get the girl'.
    • 4/5
      It turns out that I'm a big fan of the Inspector Chen series after two books. I like the way Qiu write and I like the cast of characters that fill out the novels. Aside from Inspector Chen, I think my favorite character is Detective Yu. I found the plot of this book to be just as interesting as Death of a Red Heroine., especially in that the central character in both novels is a woman. I look forward to reading more of this series.
    • 5/5
      this writer is very readable and gives an insight into Chinese life which is changing to adapt to modern living.
    • 4/5
      The food poisoning incident made him think of Inspector Rohn. First the motorcycle, and then the accident on the staircase.They might have been followed. While they were talking with Zhu upstairs, something could have been done to the steps. Under normal circumstances, Chief Inspector Chen would have treated such an idea like a tall tale from Liaozhai, but they were dealing with a triad.Anything was possible.A woman from a small village disappears while waiting for a passport to join her husband in the US. The woman's husband is refusing to testify in a trial of a people-smuggler unless his wife is allowed to join him, and an U.S. Marshall Catherine Rohn has been sent to Shanghai to escort the woman to her husband. Inspector Chen is put on the case and asked to look after the American because of his good English, and good-standing within the party, although she does speak some Chinese. Chen is well aware that this is a politically sensitive case, as it is imperative that the woman is found and handed over to the Americans quickly, so that China does not lose face, but he comes to suspect that some people would rather the woman was not found and handed over the the Americans An interesting police procedural with plenty of politics, but this time there's added Triad action, flirting and Doctor Zhivago!
    • 3/5
      This was OK but it didn't appeal to me as much as the first book in the series. Other than Inspector Chen, the characters felt flatter. This was most noticeable in the relationship between Chen and Inspector Rohn—I never got any real sense of the romantic tension that the book was claiming was present. The mystery, itself, was a bit lackluster. The result was serviceable as a middle book in a series but not something to recommend and, if the series remains at this quality, not sufficient to keep my interest.
    • 4/5
      In the second of Qiu Xiaolong's Inspector Chen novels, Chen is assigned as liaison to U.S Marshal Catherine Rohn, who has come to Shanghai to escort the pregnant wife of a U.S. federal witness to the U.S. One problem: the wife is missing, and the witness refuses to testify unless his wife is brought safely to the U.S. With only a couple of weeks before the trial in which the witness is supposed to testify against the leaders of an illegal immigrant smuggling operation, Chen must work quickly to discover the wife's whereabouts. At the same time, he must proceed cautiously because it's possible that his Party superiors have an unstated agenda, and because the witness has ties to one of the Chinese criminal triads whose reach may extend into the police force.Chen is an interesting and complex character. He is a poet, and poetry is often a part of his thought and speech, especially when he's reflecting on a case and contemplating his next course of action. He is regarded favorably by his superiors in the Party, yet he resists their attempts to direct his actions. In order to resolve his cases, he has to find a middle ground that will satisfy both his superiors and his own sense of integrity.I enjoy the books in this series as much for their depiction of life in China as for the criminal investigation. The books are set in the early 1990s, not long after Tiananmen Square, when Chinese society was changing rapidly. The references to Chinese food and culinary arts in the novels often make me want to head for the nearest Chinese restaurant. Inspector Chen doesn't often prepare food in the novels, but he knows how it should be prepared and where to go to find the best dishes.Readers who have read the first book in the series will notice references to some of the events in that book, but readers who haven't read the first book won't feel like they're missing important information.
    • 5/5
      This is the second book in the Inspector Chen Series. I love the insights into life in Shanghai in the 1990s and Inspector Chen is also a poet. The murder investigations are almost a sideline, but are still very interesting.
    • 4/5
      Another excellent Inspector Chen novel. Full of atmosphere, intrigue and politics. Great characters, a good plot and interesting Chinese setting.
    • 4/5
      As with the first in this series (Death of a Red Heroine), this is more worth reading for its representation of life in Shanghai at a pivotal time. The mystery itself is an afterthought, and loose ends are tied up clumsily. However, Inspector Chen is growing on me, as is Detective Yu and his family. I expect I'll continue reading the series for the sake of the characters and the backstory.
    • 4/5
      Chief Inspector Chen, rising star of the Shanghai police, is assigned to assist a female US Marshall who has come to China to escort a witness in a triad human-smuggling case to join her husband under witness protection in the US. Only its not that simple...The plotting is very good (though a few more juicy twists wouldn't have gone amiss) but the best thing about this book is the glimpse at life in modern day China, with the authentic backdrop of recent Chinese history.The prose is gentle, uncomplicated and peppered with poetic quotes, which I am sure is in itself very Chinese, but in some ways I felt a story this good should make a more *exciting* read. I also got confused with some similar-sounding Chinese names and the continual hints at sexual tension between Chen and Catherine Rohn (The US cop) got a bit tiresome after a while when it became clear nothing was ever going to happen there.Worth a read for the insight into Chinese culture.