Qiu Xiaolong won the 2001 Anthony Award For Best First Novel for Death of a Red Heroine, which kicked off his best-selling Inspector Chen series of detective novels set in China. He has since written ten additional tomes; his books have sold millions of copies, and have been translated into more than twenty languages. And all his Inspector Chen novels have been made into BBC radio dramatizations.

He has also published collections of short stories, poetry, and poetry translations. Born in Shanghai, China, Qiu Xiaolong published poetry, translation and criticism in Chinese before he went to the United States as a Ford Foundation Fellow and obtained his PhD at Washington University in St. Louis. He currently lives in St. Louis with his wife and daughter.