A much more wobbly and erratic plot, but one with likely parallels to the author's life. ( )

3.5*
I really like Chen Cao. In this 4th entry in the series, Chen is asked to work on a case of corruption with connections very high up in the government. The realities of both the difficulties in investigating and the likelihood that most of the high ranking officials involved will end up getting away with it, though well portrayed, were depressing.

I did like the fact that Chen met up with U.S. Marshal Catherine Rhon once again during his visit to the U.S. ( )

El caso de las dos ciudades es el cuarto título de la saga que ha hecho célebre a Xiaolong, y uno de los más logrados. En esta ocasión el inspector Chen Cao, de la policía de Shanghai, ha de investigar la corrupción propiciada por las recientes reformas económicas, que alcanza a las altas instancias del Partido Comunista. El anterior encargado de dicha tarea fue hallado muerto en un burdel, tras ingerir una gran dosis de una variedad de "viagra chino". Las pesquisas de Chen le llevarán hasta Estados Unidos al frente de una delegación de escritores en visita de intercambio cultural y tras la pista de Xing Sing, un magnate que huyó para evitar su procesamiento.

Inspector Chen is assigned to look into the contacts of Xing Xing, a corrupt official who has fled with his ill-gotten gains to the United States in an attempt to claim political asylum.

Although I enjoyed the previous books in this series, I didn't really get on with this one and often found myself making excuses not to pick it up. I don't think I will be continuing with the series. ( )

Xiaolong's Inspector Chen series offers a fantastic blend of character, atmosphere, and mystery, with all of the books being anchored in poetry and attention to the details of Chinese culture in Shanghai, especially when it comes to food and custom. This is the fourth book in the series, and was somewhat of a departure from the earlier books in the series. Where earlier books felt more centrally focused on a mystery, this one ranged across multiple cases/concerns (multiple continents, even), and seemed just as focused on attending to Chen's character and the literary aspect of the series. That took some getting used to, I admit--it wasn't exactly what I'd expected upon picking up the book--but I ended up enjoying it. And, as always, Xiaolong's inclusions of poetry made the book that much richer, even if it sometimes stretched believability that they'd come so easily to the characters' minds.

I would say that, so far, this book is an outlier in the series, and that readers would definitely want to start with the first three books. The other caveat is that it feels like this book ends on less firm footing than normal, and leads directly into the next book--to the extent that it almost feels like this is a two-parter more than a stand-alone in some ways. I'll be making a point of picking up the next book sooner than later because of it, but regardless, I certainly recommend the series. ( )