The Dancing Queen's Destination

程小青Oct 2026

3.5

Word count: 118K words
Chapters: 13

Summary

On a stormy night, Shanghai's once-celebrated "Dance Queen" Wang Lilan dies by gunfire—yet her body bears both knife wounds and bullet marks. The man she loved most did fire a shot, but the bullet was not fatal; the one who truly sent her to her death was the person closest to her. Master detective Huo Sang faces a double murder with more than one killer.

Editor's review

The Dance Queen's Final Resting Place sets its murder on a stormy night in Shanghai. The victim is the once-celebrated "dance queen" Wang Lilan, whose body bears both knife wounds and gunshot marks. The man most devoted to her did indeed fire a gun, but the bullet was not fatal—the one who truly sent her to her grave was the person closest to her. This setup splits "who fired the gun" and "who committed the murder" into two separate questions from the very start; readers who fixate only on the gunshot are easily misled, and Cheng Xiaoqing exploits precisely this intuitive trap to layer the double-murder structure with clarity. Hawthorne faces more than one killer, which means motive, timing, and each person's actions must be untangled separately; the story therefore invests more in character relationships than in mere killer-hunting. The dance-hall ecology of old Shanghai intertwines with emotional entanglements, giving the case both the hardness of deduction and room for human warmth and coldness. Suited to readers who enjoy multiple suspects and intersecting action lines; while reading, try listing each person's "actual actions" and "suspected actions" separately to better appreciate the author's ingenuity in plotting.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Mystery readers who enjoy multiple suspects and double-murder structures
Readers interested in old Shanghai dance-hall life and social portraiture
Readers who relish logical traps like distinguishing "the shooter" from "the true killer"
Fans of Cheng Xiaoqing's Hawthorne series and collectors of Republican-era detective fiction

Not a good fit for

Light-mystery readers who prefer a single killer, linear puzzle-solving, and simple structure
Readers impatient with emotional entanglements and extended character relationship development
Readers who prefer modern urban settings or high-tech investigative methods

Reading tips

Give each suspect a separate row, recording their actual actions and suspected actions to avoid confusion.
Treat the knife wounds and gunshot marks as two independent threads; pursue each separately before considering where they converge.
Note the difference between the two relationship descriptions "most devoted" and "closest to her," and consider why the author places them side by side.
After finishing, revisit the opening stormy night and check which details you overlooked at the time.

版权信息
第一章一位挺漂亮的小姐
第二章一页往史
第三章对立的情报
第四章几种推想
第五章恶消息
第六章危险的经历
第七章把他押起来
第八章捉住了两个人
第九章惊人消息
第十章皮鞋问题
第十一章赵伯雄的供词
第十二章报告和解释

FAQ

The body has both knife wounds and gunshot marks—does that mean there are two killers?

The material clearly states this is a double murder with more than one killer, but how the knife wounds and gunshot marks map onto each person's actions must be clarified step by step through Hawthorne's deduction. The shooter may not be the one who dealt the fatal blow, and the one who killed may not be the shooter—this is the book's core mechanism.

Do I need to read this and The Contradiction Circle in order?

Both are Hawthorne cases, each self-contained with no dependent plot sequence; you can choose either by interest. If you want to compare the author's different techniques in handling "mutually contradictory clues" and "intersecting actions of multiple people," reading the two together is more rewarding.

Is the dance-hall background important to solving the case?

Wang Lilan was a celebrated dance queen, and her status and relationships form an important backdrop for motives and actions. The dance-hall ecology provides the setting for characters to interact and the soil for emotional entanglements; understanding this background helps gauge the credibility of each person's testimony.

Why is the "most devoted" man not the true killer?

The material shows he did fire a gun, but the bullet was not fatal, so his action cannot be directly equated with the death. The true killer is the person closest to the victim, suggesting readers should focus on the behavioral details of those in closest daily contact rather than chasing only the gunshot.

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About the author

程小青 Author

Cheng Xiaoqing was an important figure in the fields of popular literature and detective fiction in modern China. Public information about him is limited, and his dates of birth and death, native place, and educational background all await further verification. Judging from the works collected here, such as The Innocent Murderer, The Dancer's Life, The Circle of Contradiction, and The Dancer's Final Resting Place, he excelled at building narratives around criminal cases and showed considerable craftsmanship in creating suspense and developing relationships among characters. His stories generally unfold as crimes, misunderstandings, and truths are revealed layer by layer, and they bear a distinct flavor of mystery and detective fiction. At the same time, the collection also includes his edition of Zuo Zhuan: Chinese Classic Masterpieces (three volumes), indicating that his interests and editorial work were not confined to fiction but extended to making traditional classics accessible. The five works currently available span Eastern philosophy and mystery fiction, presenting a profile in which popular writing and the editing of classics proceed side by side, and offering valuable samples for understanding Republican-era detective fiction and the publishing of classic readings.