Becoming Inspector Chen by Qiu Xiaolong (Part Two)

(16. - 1155.) Becoming Inspector Chen by Qiu Xiaolong (Part Two) - My first post on the book covered Chief Inspector’s life up to becoming a police officer and how extensively Qiu Xiaolong drew upon his own life experiences. With Chen becoming a police officer there is less of Qiu’s life in Chen’s life.

Upon joining the Shanghai police services Chen, lacking police training, is delegated to translate an American police procdure booklet. Day after day he quietly works upon the translation. The work is incredibly boring.

During his breaks from translating he is reading mystery novels. He finds several thought provoking especially when they probe the mind. I was reminded of the private detective, Kosuke Kindaichi, in The Honjin Murders in which Kindaichi was a crime fiction afficiando. In the murder investigation taking place in the 1940’s he draws upon the Golden Age authors of crime fiction he has been reading. 

Chen, now with an actual income, becomes known for his love of fine food, especially if it is of an exotic nature.

From innate curiosity and wanting to be more useful than a just translator of a booklet that is of little relevance to Chinese procedure, Chen offers to help with a murder investigation that has proved frustrating. His knowledge of food proves useful. The murder victim had caviar, shark fin and drunken shrimp in his stomach at death.

When Chen and his friend Overseas Lu identify the victim by figuring out the restaurant at which the deceased ate such an unusual meal the murder detectives are surprised and uncomfortable with his success. From his first case Chen makes superiors uneasy.

With the victim having connections with a rich American the case has political overtones and pressure increases upon the detectives.

Chen provides insights from his conversations with people. Neither intimidating nor brutal nor demanding Chen draws out information. He cares about helping people. His efforts are important in solving the case.

Chen is given more opportunities and proves to be a talented officer. 

He periodically returns to the residents of Red Dust Lane. Qiu has created a real neighbourhood. There are rivalries but most residents are supportive of each other.

When Chen is promoted to being in “charge of ‘rectification of wronged cases during the Cultural Revolution’ “ he uses his authority in moving ways on behalf of Red Dust Lane.

The book affirms fragmentary comments in earlier books that Chen has succeeded in his police career and personal life by “following his father’s Confucianist maxim”:

‘Even if you know it’s something impossible for you to do, you have to try your best as long as it’s the right thing to do.’

He lives by classic Confucian values rather than the socialist principles of Chairman Mao. No matter the rhetoric about the proletarian struggles for the masses, Confucian principles mean a better life for the masses.

Becoming Inspector Chen is a curious book in its structure and relationship to the series. There are a few pages per chapter on his precarious official position and the investigation into the “like emoji” on a controversial poem but most of the book is about his prior life. I had the feeling Qiu felt compelled to throw in a current mystery when he really just wanted to write about Chen’s life. Further, none of the book deals with the murder Chen planned to investigate that took place in the final pages of Hold Your Breath, China.

It would have made more sense to have simply written a biography of Chen. Many of the stories set out in Becoming Inspector Chen had appeared in earlier books in less detail.

Since Becoming Inspector Chen did not deal with the late killing in Hold Your Breach, China I bought the next book in the series, Inspector Chen and the Private Kitchen Murder, to see if it is the actual sequel. It is not like Qiu to set up and then abandon a plot line. My favourite question - why - nags me.

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Xiaolong, Qiu – (2009) - Death of a Red Heroine (Second best of 2009 fiction); (2011) - "X" is for Qui Xiaolong; (2011) - A Case for Two Cities; (2012) - "X" is for Qiu Xiaolong Again; (2012) - A Loyal Character Dancer; (2013) - Red Mandarin Dress and Reflections on red Mandarin dresses; (2015) - The Mao Case;  (2016) - Don't Cry, Tai Lake and The Poetry of Pollution in Qiu Xiaolong's Fiction; (2016) - Comparing Serial Killers in Three Totalitarian States; (2017) - Enigma of China; (2017) - Shanghai Redemption; (2023) - Hold Your Breath, China; (2023) - Becoming Inspector Chen - (Part One) Hardcover or paperback.