Don't Cry, Tai Lake is Qiu Xiaolong's seventh Inspector Chen Cao novel, folling after The Mao Case (2009).
The novel, published in 2012 by Minotaur Books, explores concepts relating to character, poetry, Chinese society and culture, pollution, and food.
[1] Chief Inspector Chen Cao of the Shanghai Police Bureau is offered a week's vacation near Tai Lake.
In addition to poetry, Qiu inserts popular Chinese idioms, historical allusions, philosophical aphorism and Maoist speeches.
[1] Publishers Weekly acknowledged that "serendipity sometimes furthers the detective work", which they stated "won’t bother those for whom this mystery’s chief appeal is its insights into many of the contradictions of present-day China, a classless society where you have to be a high-ranking party cadre to gain free access to a park renowned for its scenic beauty—and where industry booms at the cost of severe water pollution.