The Beijing Opera Murder (Inspector Bao Zheng Mysteries) Paperback – March 23, 2021

The author knows China inside and out, and for many decades has observed with understanding and sympathy the Chinese people. His characters are realistic, his plots interesting. Thank you, Mr West!

I particularly liked the main character Inspector Bao Zheng - utterly believable and memorable, a humane man trying to solve cases in Beijing in 1991, against a background of rigid Communist Party correctness, where not trotting out the right cliches can make you a target. It's not just the criminals you have to look out for in his world. The book is more than an exciting crime novel, it foreshadows the transformation of China in the last 30 years. I look forward to reading the next Inspector Bao Zheng novel.

Ok I admit I only got to 43% but there was nothing happening. It was a given that I would be challenged by all the Chinese names and I was but I stuck with the main character and learned precious little about him. He was uninteresting as was the first 43% of the book. Yes I learned something of the Chinese culture of those times but that is readily available on-line.I really do not understand the 4 and 5 star ratings.