Shanghai Redemption by Qiu Xiaolong
What I like about Qiu Xiaolong's Inspector Chen novels is their ethical examination of modern Communist China as seen through the eyes of a poet whose Party-assigned job is police detective, but whose moral upbringing comes from the Confucian studies of his father. In this ninth and most recent book of the series Chen is removed from his job as Chief Inspector of Special Investigations for the Shanghai Police Department with a "promotion" to a new position with a substantial title but no power. At the same time someone is attempting to set him up for public disgrace or worse.
Isolated and without official resources, the feeling that someone in a high position is out to destroy him, creates an intense feeling of dread in the hero and the readers. The book can get confusing at times while he tries to figure out who is targeting him and why, but the concluding chapters are so compelling I couldn't put the book down.
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