or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
57 used & new from £0.01
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Death of a Red Heroine
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside another edition of this book

Death of a Red Heroine (Paperback)

by Qiu Xiaolong (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
Price: £5.98 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £2.01 (25%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Want guaranteed delivery by Tuesday, November 10? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details
36 new from £0.52 21 used from £0.01
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover 12 used & new from £4.68
Paperback (Reprint) £9.99 £9.99 19 used & new from £2.01
Paperback (Large Print) 3 used & new from £16.95

Frequently Bought Together

Death of a Red Heroine + When Red is Black + Red Mandarin Dress
Price For All Three: £17.94

Show availability and shipping details

  • This item: Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • When Red is Black by Qiu Xiaolong

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Red Mandarin Dress by Qiu Xiaolong

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

When Red is Black

When Red is Black

by Qiu Xiaolong
4.0 out of 5 stars (5)  £5.98
A Loyal Character Dancer

A Loyal Character Dancer

by Qiu Xiaolong
4.0 out of 5 stars (4) 
Red Mandarin Dress

Red Mandarin Dress

by Qiu Xiaolong
3.8 out of 5 stars (6)  £5.98
A Case of Two Cities

A Case of Two Cities

by Qiu Xiaolong
3.2 out of 5 stars (5) 
The Mao Case

The Mao Case

by Qiu Xiaolong
4.2 out of 5 stars (4)  £5.98
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 480 pages
  • Publisher: Sceptre; New Ed edition (13 Jul 2006)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0340897503
  • ISBN-13: 978-0340897508
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 3.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 109,158 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

Chicago Tribune

‘Blends history, plenty of poetry and a compelling mystery'


Review

‘Stupendous . . . It does what detective fiction can do best: it captures the details, the grit of everyday life . . . A matchless pearl.’ (Fresh Air, National Public Radio, USA )

‘Blends history, plenty of poetry and a compelling mystery: the murder of Guan Hongying, a former national role-model worker, a beautiful young woman who slipped from patriotic fame into loneliness and depravity . . . We get to see, smell, taste and hear an amazingly evocative portrait of a country.’ (Chicago Tribune )

‘Chen is an irresistible protagonist, likable and determined to make the honourable choices, no matter how dangerous. Qiu’s portrait of China in transition, a potential eye-opener for many of his Western readers, is an equally compelling attraction.’ (Kirkus Reviews )

‘Superb . . . brilliant’ (Newsday )

‘Marvellously assured . . . engrossing, immensely readable’ (Wall Street Journal )

‘Riveting and convincing’ (Far Eastern Economic Review )
See all Product Description
Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
Search inside this book:

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
See all 6 tags...

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Death of a Red Heroine
83% buy the item featured on this page:
Death of a Red Heroine 4.5 out of 5 stars (13)
£5.98
Red Mandarin Dress
5% buy
Red Mandarin Dress 3.8 out of 5 stars (6)
£5.98
When Red is Black
5% buy
When Red is Black 4.0 out of 5 stars (5)
£5.98
The Mao Case
4% buy
The Mao Case 4.2 out of 5 stars (4)
£5.98
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

13 Reviews
5 star:
 (7)
4 star:
 (5)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Debut, 21 Nov 2002
By A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Death of a Red Heroine (Soho crime) (Paperback)
The first book in the Inspector Chen series (followed by A Loyal Character Dancer) is a spellbinding meld detective procedural and portrait of China in transition following the Tiananmen Square massacre. Set in Shanghai in the Spring of 1990, the story starts with the discovery of the body of a "national model worker." The case falls into the hands newly promoted Det. Inspector Chen Cao and his subordinate Detective Yu, who work under the watchful eyes of old Commissar Zhang and Party Secretary Li.

Communist China makes for an instantly compelling and intriguing setting, as the police must wend their way through labyrinthine political considerations in a country where one's standing in the Party is paramount but change is clearly underway. The mystery and investigation proceed in a leisurely fashion, and the true challenge is not identifying the murderer, but being able to gather the necessary evidence and piecing together a motive.

Inspector Chen and Detective Yu are instantly likable and deeply-drawn characters, as is their circle of friends and family. Woven into the story are the their personal lives, which the author uses to paint a vivid picture of China just a decade ago. Most memorable are the cramped housing conditions, the continued reverence for elders, and the many many mouthwatering descriptions of food. Hardest to imagine for Western readers will be the influence of Party standing and its intrusion into personal relationships, especially when it comes to love.

This is a long, but never boring story that deserves wide readership amongst mystery readers as well as those with an interest in China. A well-deserved winner of the Edgar for best first novel.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Death of a red Heroine - a review, 7 Sep 2006
By J. D. Naylor "jazzfan" (England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Thoroughly enjoyed this contemporary murder mystery set in China which centres around the death of a prominent communist party member.The plot itself is not like your typical Agatha Christie murder mystery which has twists and turns on every page,this story takes it's time, fleshes out the characters and makes them interesting before developing the plot.
The whole thing has an authentic chinese flavour to it and the author takes care to enrich the story with many small and interesting details that make western life so different from life in the Orient.
What loses the book it's valuable fifth star is that the ending is a slight let down although i don't think the author meant it to be an out and out surprise but more of a logical conclusion to end the proceedings with.
All in all a highly enjoyable read and will look out for this author's books in the future.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A cracking read, 8 Feb 2007
By Pas de plume (Twickenham, England) - See all my reviews
I enjoyed this enormously. Its really a novel about life in transitional China, but full of great insight in to the human condition in general. A very satisfying read with a wonderfully subtle characterisation of the main protagonist.

Thoroughly recommended
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Death of a Red Heroine
What a great book. Having read this one I was compelled to read all the detective stories by this author. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Pat Bunce

5.0 out of 5 stars a pleasant window on china
This is my first qui xialong's novel, and it was a marvellous surprise. The suggestion came from top 10s Sampson's asian novels (The Guardian). Read more
Published 2 months ago by Leone Riello

5.0 out of 5 stars a great book :)
this book is really cool :P
the hero and sidekick are decent people which is really nice for a change and the book just gave me strangely cose feeling when i read it lol... Read more
Published 3 months ago by FUTURESTARdelux

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable!
I decided on a whim to invest in a number of detective novels based outside of the UK/Scandinavian cities that I have read. Read more
Published 4 months ago by G. Davies

3.0 out of 5 stars 4.5 Stars - Poetry and policework
First Sentence: The body was found at 4:40 p.m., on May 11, 1990, in Baili Canal, an out-of-the-way canal, about twenty miles to the west of Shanghai. Read more
Published 7 months ago by L. J. Roberts

4.0 out of 5 stars Subtle, political crime novel
Fans of crime fiction will enjoy this fresh angle on the genre, which combines the classic cop story with the complexities of 1990s Chinese politics. Read more
Published 19 months ago by BookWorm

5.0 out of 5 stars I thought I'd hate it, but I absolutley loved it and went straight out and bought the next one in the series!
`Death of a Red Heroine' is set in 1990's Shanghai. A woman's body is found in a canal and it is quickly discovered that she has been sexually assaulted and asphyxiated. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Snapdragon

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Literary
A bit of a slow starter but really picks up along the way. The literary allussions are a little too much for me but I'm sure it'll appeal to a lot of people. Read more
Published on 6 Jan 2007 by Miran Ali

4.0 out of 5 stars An unexpected treat
I bought this book having read a review, but not knowing quite what to expect.

It is more police procedural than golden age. Read more
Published on 9 Dec 2006 by S. Hill

4.0 out of 5 stars A good story and a hint on the ambiguities of today China
The author uses a not so puzzling but interesting mystery story with a dash of sex and true love to offer a lot of perceptive hints of the ambiguities of present day China. Read more
Published on 9 Jan 2002

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject









i.e., each product must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback

Ad

Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.