“Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!” first edition cover

Review of First Edition of “Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!”

This book is an  original “who-dunnit” by Chengzhi Chu and  Yuehua Liu, one of the editors of the “Integrated Chinese” textbook series.

This review is of the first edition.  When I am able to obtain a copy of a second edition of from this series, I’ll post to LaoWai Dai Wei as soon as possible.  So far I only know that the book cover has given a face lift in the second edition, it is much more colorful and stylish, but as the saying goes, “you can’t judge a book by its cover.”

The Chinese Breeze series of Chinese graded readers pioneered this learning niche and got it off to a great start. Mandarin Companion followed, and now there are several publishers writing various types of stories for the Chinese learner.

The plot of “Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!”

“Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!”  is set Beijing in the month of June.   It involves two wealthy twin （孪生) sisters, Lin Shuang Shuang (林双双) and Lin Dui Dui (林对对).   These identical twins make the story interesting, because it will take some time to identify who is the victim and who is the survivor.

The police receive a frantic call from a mail delivery man who found the apartment door open, but no one answered.  He goes in an finds a dead, but beautiful young woman on the floor with a note next to her.

Two Beijing police officers, Li Liang (李亮) and Wang Ming (王明) arrive on the scene to investigate.  At first glance, it appears to be a suicide.   This college aged woman apparently drank some cyanide (氰化物).  I was a bit surprised to see cyanide as a new word for Level 1, but I learned it!

Li Liang and Wang Ming go to various places to interview witnesses, with even a quick trip to Shanghai before putting all the pieces of the puzzle to figure out if this was really a suicide or a murder.   I won’t spoil the ending, but there’s more than meet the eye in this mystery.

Li Liang doesn’t like girls with red faces….

“Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!”, 2nd edition

The story isn’t completely morbid, it actually has a happy ending.  Li Liang is relieved to  meet a girl on  a blind date, who doesn’t have a red face.  What do I mean by that?   Well, get a copy of “Wrong! Wrong!  Wrong!” 《错！错！错》 to find out!