Liu Hulan is a star detective working for the Ministry of Public Security in Beijing. She has come to be known as the Red Princess, garnering a large share of the print media's attention as the focus turned to her scandalous relationship with American David Stark. They still didn't know the juiciest part…that she is pregnant with his child.

Hulan had met David while he was on a business trip to China. His role as Assistant District Attorney became very high profile as he successfully tried and convicted the backbone of the Rising Phoenix Triad. In fact, he is practically a shoe-in for the soon to be vacated post of District Attorney. During the trial he received many death threats and had been under FBI guard. Now that the case is over, he is trying to get Liu Hulan to fulfill her promise and move to the states so they can marry.

As typical of the children of the elite in the early part of the Cultural Revolution, Hulan had been sent at age 14 to The Red Soil Farm in the Shanxi Provinces of China to till the earth. While there she became friends with Ling Suchee. After more than two decades she receives a letter from her friend relating the fact that she found her unwed, pregnant daughter dead…. an apparent suicide by hanging. Her daughter had turned her back on the farm life and had gone to the city to work in Knight Industries, an American toy factory. The local authorities have quickly closed their books on the case and Ling Suchee appeals to Liu Hulan for help.

Ling Suchee quickly convinces Liu Hulan that there is something very wrong about her daughter's suicide when she shows her some of the "factory papers" that her daughter had hidden. Hulan believes the way to understand the killer is to understand the daughter and starts her search into her life. Meanwhile David has been offered a new job with his old law firm, that of opening a branch office in Beijing. Seeing a chance to be with Hulan, versus constant surveillance by the FBI, David quickly heads to China.

Lisa See builds her characters and her story layer by layer within the context of life in the rural interior of China, wherein one-sixth of the world's population tills the soil. Geography, history, and present day living conditions in China are spoon fed to the reader as the investigation goes forward.

The suspense is taut, the sexual sparks are high voltage, and the contrasts of different and complex cultures are vividly drawn. Her point of view shifts are remarkably done and the dialogue seems appropriate although constantly changing, as many different types of people are found in this very intricate plot.

The sum of The Interior is so much more than its parts. As the specific details of the mystery and romance fade, I predict that readers will be still be left a greater understanding of modern day life in China.

--Thea Davis