So far I'm enjoying this book, the 2nd in the Inspector Chen series, as much as the first one. Like the first one, lots of detail on the Chinese mindset. I like the way that Chen tries to get out of escorting the female US Marshall as he doesn't want to get sucked into a political task and then keeps thinking about the party and how things will look with an eye to potential accusations of Western corruption and impropriety. For that reason, he refuses a room at the Peace Hotel to avoid any trouble even though he'd love to stay there and invite Inspector Yu's family so they could use the hot water. Funny that atheist Communism Chinese style is so Southern Baptist about sex.
I also like the little educational asides. Detective Yu (I love him!) is sent to Fujian to investigate the disappearance of the wife of a refugee who has agreed to testify in a human smuggling case in exchange for Witness Protection (and also, he might be kind of shady.) Yu tells a local cop who is unhappy about Shanghai's interference that he'll need a translator. It turns out that Fujian province is one of the most linguistically diverse provinces per Wikipedia. The Han Chinese are a minority.
In which I engage in shallow discussions about books, movies, science, history and whatever else I'm thinking at that moment. And have beers with Captain Howdy.
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