The Small-Town Detective

Season One of The Small-Town Detective is set in Jiangcheng, a city in southern China, in the mid-to-late 1990s. It follows Qin Feng, a police academy entrance exam washout, Lao Tang, a streetwise detective, and Tang Xiaolan, a young woman skilled in martial arts, as they form the "Chinatown Detectives" and join forces to solve strange cases. Qin Feng has an extraordinary ability to remember everything he sees and exceptional deductive skills. Lao Tang knows the ins and outs of the streets, while Tang Xiaolan is a formidable fighter. Together, they complement one another and work seamlessly as a team. The series follows an episodic format, featuring classic puzzles such as a bandaged monster at a mountain resort, a seemingly perfect alibi, a locked-room poisoning, and a murder in the snow with no footprints. Blending mystery and deduction with the warmth of everyday life, it reveals both the good and evil in human nature and the marks left by the times as the cases are solved. The main plot also plants clues about the wrongful case involving Qin Feng's father, keeping the pace tight and the suspense constant.