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Just started 困獸之鬥, and it’s a spy novel!! I didn’t know, I actually didn’t know anything about the book when I bought it, just that it was one of the three winners of the first 謎團小說獎 for novels based on true Taiwan criminal cases.
I just read the first chapter and loved it! First time reading a spy novel in Chinese too.

千島湖事件: Qiandao Lake incident
In 1994, three men hijacked and set fire to a boat, the 海瑞號, on Qiandao Lake, Zhejiang, killing all the passengers: 24 passengers from Taiwan and 8 Chinese crew members and guides.
The problem is that the Chinese government mishandled the investigation, censoring information and blocking the media in an attempt to cover-up the case. Chinese local government even said it was a ship fire, while Taiwan claimed the attack was orchestred by soldiers from the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
The case created outrage in Taiwan and severely damaged relations between the two countries.

In our novel, Li Wu-hsiung acquired classified Chinese documents on the case that he handed back to Taiwan, thus gaining his promotion as Major.
The novel says he handed the documents to the 特情室, but my understanding was that this unit was merged in 1985 with another unit to become the 軍情局, so he should have reported to the 軍情局 in 1994?
So I probably got everything mixed up… oh well, I got the big picture, that’s enough to enjoy the novel.

My understanding, though this might be wrong:
特情室 is short for 國防部特種情報室 Special Intelligence Office of the Ministry of National Defense, a highly secretive military intelligence unit in Taiwan during the Cold War era (can’t find much info on it, doesn’t have a wikipedia page). It merged with another unit (國防部情報局) in 1985 to become:
軍情局 short for 國防部軍事情報局 (Military Intelligence Bureau, Ministry of National Defense), Taiwan current military intelligence agency.

So Li Wu-hsiung was recruited by the Special Intelligence Office, and now works as Major in the Military Intelligence Bureau.

Oh and 特工 means secret service or special agent.

Finished chapter 2. The story is so intriguing… I’m loving 変な地図 as much as the other novels so far!

Looking for my next Chinese read, I found something interesting: a contest for fictions inspired by a real criminal cases in Taiwan. The contest is called 謎團小說獎 and hosted by O.H.S.I.R. (重大歷史懸疑案件調查辦公室 - The Office of Historical Suspense Investigation & Research).
The three winners of the contest get a financial prize and a publication. It looks like the prize is very young, running for the fourth time this year?

I’m not really into true crime, so I haven’t spent much time on their website (and it opens a pop-up add on every page, which is really annoying), but I’m interested in the fictional works. There are three editions so far, with three winners all getting a publication, so 9 books to read so far! Maybe I’ll give it a try, starting with the first ones.

I’m really loving the series, I like how, in episodes 4 and 5, secondary characters have been given more screen time and a more important place in the plot. Makes the series more interesting!

I’m still unsure who I’m going to choose for the next and last constellations. So far I chose Xiao, Hu Tao and Ganyu, and now I’m torn between Shenhe and Baizhu. The thing is that I’m using Baizhu more than Shenhe, but I prefer Shenhe over Baizhu.
So for now I selected Shenhe…

I don’t know what I’m going to read next in Chinese. I’m going to read something else first before continuing with Yen Yu’s novels. I could choose something from the 2026 Readmoo Reading challenge or one of the winners/finalists of the Soji Shimada Mystery Award as it’s one of the awards I’m following. Or just browse Readmoo and see what piques my interest…

For some reason I’m always lacking time for this book… sometimes it happens that you absolutely love a book, and you feel like you could finish it in one sitting if you had time, but you don’t.
Anyway, I’m really loving the story and it reads very easily like Uketsu’s other books.

Yen Yu’s novels are so good! It’s the fourth one I read, and I’ve loved them all.
Like the others, 警察執勤中：正義的代價 gives such a good and honest insights on police every day work, showing all the not so glorious parts of being a police officer. The other novels I read were told from the point of view of novices, but this time we follow a veteran: Wang Shuoyen. He is also such an interesting character, someone who is a master at slacking on the job and getting around cumbersome and inefficient procedures, while knowing the line between breaking the rules and breaking the law.
I find that the reader is always placed in an interesting spot, because as a reader, we can only sympathise with the characters, but as a citizen, it’s hard not to get mad at some of the practices described in the book.
But the novel is much more than a good social novel, it’s also a suspenseful political thriller and action thriller whose pace keeps on accelerating. 警察執勤中：正義的代價 tackles a nationwide corruption case that has the potential to completely shake Taiwan political world.
The way high rank officials would do anything to cover themselves and how low-ranked officials are easily sacrificed along the way is a recurrent theme in Yen Yu’s novels, but in 警察執勤中：正義的代價, I felt really mad so many times.
I think this novel is really excellent, it’s a harsh critic of the system of factions that corrupts all the governmental offices, but it’s also a really suspenseful thriller.

The last fourth of the book is impossible to put down! I thought I’d just read one chapter today, but I finished it!

Maybe I should just write the rank of officers in their original language in my character lists, instead of trying to find an English equivalent. I kind of have an okay understanding of ranks in their respective languages I think? but finding the correct equivalent in English is harder.
For example, is it better to say Bureau Chief, Director General, Commissioner?
I also find that ranks in their original language are easier to grasp for me than English translations, just because they’re used in the novel so it feels more concrete, and it’s then easier to associate one name with one rank this way.

I’m a bit mad at the fact that 七十號，你的鳥歪了 is not advertised as a novel following 警察執勤中：正義的代價. The books are not from the same publisher, which probably explains it, but it still annoying.

I read 七十號，你的鳥歪了 first because it was promoted on Books From Taiwan, it looked like a stand alone novel, so I never thought about checking first the author’s bibliography at the time.

The main story is independent, but it directly follows the events of 警察執勤中：正義的代價 which have big repercussions on the characters. But more importantly, it entirely spoils the outcome. And it would be a better reading experience to read them in order anyway, because now I not only have a good idea of how 警察執勤中：正義的代價 will end, but I also know things that would happen afterwards which also impact the way I’m reading 警察執勤中.

I also think that I would have enjoyed 七十號，你的鳥歪了 even more if I had read 警察執勤中 first. The repercussions of the case would have felt even more impactful if I had followed it from the beginning with 警察執勤中. So reading in reverse order kind of affects both books.

I don’t know why they’re not published by the same publisher, but it’s a shame because this prevents them from being sold as a series. I really do think they should be a series, they take place in the same fictional world with its own chronology and some characters and events are recurring. I’m glad I read 403小組，警隊出動！ first at least…

Covers chosen by each publisher also make the books look completely different when they’re really similar in style and topics.

I’m not feeling well today, only some pages read…