Currently Reading - Death of a Red Heroine, Qui Xiaolong

This is my book from the X pile - but the way it seems to be taking forever to get through it probably has to be mitigated slightly by the autumn challenge.  Between days of grape picking, wine making, cat wrangling, garden clearing, and the distractions of a new baby pet pig.  Well the book is moving slower than the treacle that felt like it froze overnight out in the produce store (did I mention it's got cold suddenly!)

From the Blurb:

Shanghai in 1990.  An ancient city in a country that despite the massacre of Tianamen Square is still in the tight grip of Communist control.  Chief Inspector Chen, a poet with a sound instinct for self-preservation, knows the city like few others.

When the body of a prominent Communist party member is found, Chen is told to keep the party authorities informed about every lead.

Opening Lines:

The body was found at 4:40pm, on May 11, 1990 in Baili Canal, an out-of-the-way canal, about twenty miles to the west of Shanghai.