Authentic 18th-century Chinese detective novels. Dee and associates solve 3 interlocked cases: The Case of the Double Murder at Dawn, The Case of the Strange Corpse, and The Case of the Poisoned Bride. 9 illustrations.
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Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Chinese
Original Language: Chinese
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dee Goong An,
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This review is from: Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee (Dee Goong An) (Detective Stories) (Paperback)
This book and the fiction that Mr. Van Gulik wrote after 1945 are definitely not your run of the mill detective stories. The author, trained and serving as a diplomat in the orient, has a profound knowledge of Tang Dynasty China, its customs and traditions. My wife and I began reading them almost thirty years ago, a still "binge" every five years or so on the series.
Van Gulik used Dee Goong An as, I suspect, a vehicle for his diplomatic training and deeper understanding of the Chinese. The man writes in a scholarly, traditional, and slightly pedantic style that in no way obscures the charm of his subject. As a contemporary review observed all of the "frail beauty and cruelty of the Tang's" are preserved. You must understand this, because Van Gulik attempts to recreate the genre accurately. This is notable due to the idiosyncrasies of our western detective mystery style, and the vast differences with their Asian peers. Fair to note that Mr. Van Gulik was a noted sinophile, and lived and died there. The preface and appendices are worth re-reading and the stage is then set for the rest of the series. Try to read this one (Dee Goong An) first! These are as follows: 1950 Chinese Bell Murders 668 AD 1952 Chinese Maze Murders 670 AD 1959 Chinese Gold Murders 663 AD 1960 Chinese Lake Murders 666 AD 1961 Chinese Nail Murders 676 AD 1962 Lacquer Screen 663 AD 1963 The Emperor's Perl 668 AD 1964 The Red Pavilion 668 AD 1965 The Monkey and the Tiger 666 AD 1965 The Willow Pattern 677 AD 1966 Phantom of the Temple 670 AD 1966 Murder in Canton 681 AD 1967 Judge Dee at Work 663 - 670 1967 Necklas and Calabash 668 AD 1968 Poets and Murder 668 AD As with any serial literary undertaking not all of these books are of the same quality as Dee Goong An. Yet they are all worth reading again and again.
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Slightly Different,
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This review is from: Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee (Dee Goong An) (Detective Stories) (Paperback)
Slightly different than the purly fictional Judge Dee novels that came after this. Judge Dee appears more fallable in these cases than in later novels and the various personalities seem to have a bit more depth, perhaps due to the fact that this work purports to represent actual historical events. In other words, you can just notice the difference between Van Gulik the translator and Van Gulik the author.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Different type of mystery novel,
By
This review is from: Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee (Dee Goong An) (Detective Stories) (Paperback)
This is a reprint of a detective novel written in the 18th century that is set in 7th century China. Written by someone well versed in Chinese law, it outs three of Judge Dee's most famous cases together into one novel. Judge Dee was a district Magistrate, a combination prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner (if necessary). Magistrates had pretty wide authority to interrogate anyone, and use any method to get a confession, including beatings and torture. But, if a Magistrate executed someone who was later found to be innocent (for instance), the Magistrate was executed.In the first case, a pair of silk merchants spend the night at a hostel in a certain town. The next morning, just outside of town, one of them is found dead. The local Warden (the town policeman) immediately accuses the hostel owner of killing, then robbing, the merchant, something the hostel owner vigorously denies. The second case involves a young bride who is poisoned on her wedding night. In the third case, a young widow and her mother live alone. The widow's husband died a year previously under less than clear circumstances. Not only does the young widow lock herself in her room for half a day every day, she also gets very angry and belligerent toward her mother whenever any men come around; not just potential suitors, but any men. As Judge Dee investigates, and interroagtes both women, the circumstances of the husband's death get more and more mysterious. Chinese detective novels are very different than their western counterparts. The culprit is introduced in the beginning of the story, and the interest is in seeing how the crime is solved. They tend to get very detailed, especially concerning the method of torture and execution, so a length of several hundred pages is common. This novel is one of the shorter ones that are available. For mystery lovers who want to read a very different type of novel, this is worth checking out. Agatha Christie has little to fear from Chinese detective novels regarding competition, but it is still worth the reader's time.
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