Red Mandarin Dress

Red Mandarin Dress by Qiu Xiaolong

I am a fan of Qiu Xiaolong's Inspector Chen Cao and have loved the previous books in the series. This one started off slow for me with a confusing collection of new characters, and the inspector taking time off from his work to write a paper in Chinese literature just at the time a serial killer is stalking young women in the city. However, I persisted and was rewarded in the end with wonderful comparisons between the romantic love stories he is studying, the cruel food options of Shanghai, and the motivations of a serial killer.