Latest Book Read: Paper Butterfly by Diane Wei Liang

I’m currently in the process of reading Paper Butterfly by Diane Wei Liang at the moment. Liang is a new author for me, a Chinese woman who has lived and studied in England. The book is set in China and provides tremendous insight into daily life, cultural beliefs, the eating and drinking customs and the social etiquette followed by the Chinese people.

Paper Butterfly is a mystery novel but it is more a fascinating peek into the Chinese way of life.

For my own benefit I will jot down a few notes about the book and maybe add a few thoughts at the end.
The protagonist in Paper Butterfly is Mei Wang, who was also the lead character in Diane Wei Liang’s earlier book The Eye Of Jade. Mei is the owner of Lotus Information Consultancy, basically she is a private detective, but seeing as it’s illegal to operate as a private detective in China, she has set up her business under this alternate name.

Mei has been hired by Mr Peng who is the head of Guanghua Record Company to look for one of his bright new singing sensations, a young woman by the name of Kaili. Kaili has recently gone missing and rather than face the embarrassment of admitting to not knowing where his singer is, Mr Peng has turned to Mei rather than notifying the police.


While conducting her investigation, Mei finds a bundle of love letters in Kaili’s apartment. The love letters are from many years ago written by a man who signed them simply as “L”. They were written around the time of the student uprising in 1989 and the man, himself a young student talks about his wish to get out and help his comrades in Tiananmen Square. The heartfelt urgency of the letters touch Mei and she recalls her own memories of that time and the guilt over her own lack of involvement comes back to stir her into resolving to find the missing singer and maybe even her lover.

But the investigation becomes complicated by a death and the police are brought into the picture. Fortunately for Mei the homicide cop she meets up with is a sensible man who prefers to work with her rather than against and together they join forces to uncover the truth behind Kaili and the man who was once her lover.

This book really shines for the insights into life in China, the customs and beliefs that are observed and the way in which Liang neatly weaves the food and drink into the story.

You could almost make a comparison between Mei Wang and Claudia Valentine from Marele Day's series beginning with The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender.