Inspector Chen Books in Order

A young National Model Worker is found dead in a Shanghai canal. Inspector Chen and Detective Yu uncover her hidden life, and soon the case runs straight into party power.

While investigating a murder in Shanghai, Chen is told to assist U.S. Marshal Catherine Rohn in locating a missing witness's wife. The two cases pull him toward human smuggling, divided loyalties, and a wider view of justice.

While Chen is on vacation, Detective Yu takes the lead when novelist Yin Lige is found murdered. The case draws both men back into Cultural Revolution wounds and the strange values of a newly moneyed Shanghai.

Chen probes corruption around an official who has fled overseas, while a fellow detective's death deepens the stakes. An unexpected trip to the United States opens fresh leads and fresh doubts.

A serial killer is leaving young women posed in red mandarin dresses around Shanghai. With the city on edge, Yu works the murders while Chen follows a politically awkward trail that may connect to them.

Chen is sent to quietly investigate the sudden rise of a woman linked to one of Mao's former lovers. The case leads into buried secrets, party mythmaking, and the dangers of touching history.

A supposed rest near Tai Lake turns into a murder case shaped by toxic water, factory influence, and environmental anger. Chen has to work carefully in a place where industry and politics are tightly bound.

Chen is asked to sign off on a sensational death that the authorities want settled quickly. As he questions the official story, the case opens onto online rumor, corruption, and the pressure of high politics.

After embarrassing powerful people, Chen is pushed into a grand new title with almost no real authority. Even from the sidelines, he starts digging into the forces trying to ruin him.

Shanghai's dirty air hangs over a serial murder investigation as Chen is also ordered to watch environmental activists. The double assignment forces him to balance conscience, danger, and survival inside the party system.

As Chen waits to learn whether his career is over, he looks back on his childhood and first cases. The book mixes a present-day mystery with the story of how he became Inspector Chen.

Officially sidelined in a reform office, Chen secretly looks into the murder of a private kitchen assistant. The case around chef Min Lihua echoes an old Judge Dee mystery and rewards quiet patience.

During the pandemic, Chen finds himself under tighter surveillance than ever while a string of deaths hints at a serial killer. The lockdown atmosphere makes this case unusually dark, political, and claustrophobic.

Old Hunter asks Chen to find a missing fortuneteller known as X. The search leads back to Tiananmen-era wounds, vanished lives, and Chen's own uneasy memories of fear, silence, and compromise.