Cover image of "The Mao Case," a novel involving Mao's complex personality

Mao Zedong is one of a handful of people whose image overshadows a broad swath of 20th century affairs. Lenin. Stalin. Churchill. Roosevelt. Yet we Americans know relatively little about the man. For example, Amazon lists ten times the number of biographies of both Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt as it does of Mao. And much of what is in print in English is heavily biased, painting “the Great Helmsman” as either a demigod or a scoundrel. Of course, any dispassionate reading of history shows that he was more the latter than the former, but in the end was both. And both sides of Mao’s complex personality come to life in Qiu Xiaolong’s historical mystery novel, The Mao Case. It’s the sixth in Qiu’s growing series featuring Chief Inspector Chen Cao of the Shanghai Police Bureau. Like its predecessors, this novel is a superb example of historical fiction.

A politically sensitive case involving Mao a quarter-century after his death

The “Mao case” lands on Chief Inspector Chen through a phone call from Huang, the new Minister of Public Security. The minister explains that during the 1950s Mao Zedong visited a movie star named Shang in Shanghai on several occasions and “danced” with her. “She could have taken—or been given—something from him,” the minister notes. And whatever it was has apparently been handed down to Shang’s daughter and granddaughter, a young woman in Shanghai named Jiao.

The minister does not explain what that thing might be. But for some unexplained reason the Internal Security agency is set on recovering the item. And Huang fears that in its clumsiness the agency will set off a scandal. Chen is to approach Jiao undercover to discover and, it is hoped, recover the item. The minister tells him, “This is an assignment you can’t say no to, Comrade Chief Inspector Chen. Any slander against Mao, the founder of the Chinese Communist Party, will affect the legitimacy of our Party.” Thus, once again, Inspector Chen is thrust unwillingly into a perilous case that will threaten his career—and his life. And he’s terrified. “it could be political suicide for a Party member cop to be even tangentially associated with the skeleton of Mao’s private life.”

The Mao Case (Inspector Chen Cao #6) by Qiu Xiaolong (2009) 302 pages ★★★★☆

Poster from the Chinese Cultural Revolution, which shows only one side of Mao's complex personality
Poster from the Cultural Revolution showing Mao inspiring an adoring crowd of Red Guards, soldiers, and workers. Most of the stories in this historical mystery series have their roots in that period (1965-75). Image: Britannica

Many surprises in this complex case

Although the Mao case doesn’t begin as a murder investigation, it soon turns into one. Clearly, whatever it was that Jiao’s grandmother might have gotten from Mao Zedong still stirs passions. Then a young woman close to Jiao turns up dead—and thugs attack Inspector Chen himself with iron pipes. He barely escapes with his life. And one murder turns into two as the head of the Internal Security team dies at the hands of thugs. Meanwhile, Chen has enlisted the help of his friend, Old Hunter, a retired cop who is the father of his partner at the Special Cases Squad, Sergeant Yu. And Old Hunter in turn drags both Yu and his wife, Peiqin, into the investigation, upsetting the inspector. He fears that any of them might also be at risk for their lives.

As in so many of the other books in this series, Qiu weaves a complicated tale in The Mao Case. Two banned books play central roles in the story. Inspector Chen’s “High Cadre Child” girlfriend Ling, daughter of a Politburo member, lends a hand. A real estate tycoon and a retired “black” (capitalist) businessman become involved, too. Until the final pages of the novel, it’s impossible to sort out what’s really happening. And then the story’s resolution brings additional surprises.

About the author

Photo of Qiu Xiaolong, author of this novel involving Mao's complex personality
Qiu Xiaolong. Image: Soho Press

Qiu Xiaolong is a poet, translator, critic, and professor as well as an acclaimed crime novelist. To date he has written 13 novels in his series about Chief Inspector Chen Cao of the Shanghai Police Bureau in addition to 12 other books, chiefly poetry. Qiu was born in Shanghai in 1953 and educated at East China Normal University and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, where he earned both his BA and his first MA. After moving to the United States, he received a second master’s degree and a PhD in Comparative Literature from Washington University in St. Louis, where he has lived with his family ever since. He was an adjunct professor there from 1996 to 2005.

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