Customer Reviews

The Emperor's Pearl (A Judge Dee Mystery)

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If the rich culture of ancient Imperial China has ever lured you and you've never read one of the sixteen Judge Dee mystery novels, then you are in for a treat. Judge Dee was a real Magistrate known for solving the most stumping and knotty of mysteries who lived from 630 to 700 in the common era. Many of the Dee book plots are based on actual, recorded cases.

As fascinating as the inscrutable Judge Dee is, the Dutch linguist / scholar / historian / illustrator / ambassador / artist and musician (who also studied law and medicine), author Robert Van Gulik is equally so. Connected with the Dutch embassy, he lived around the world - literally: Egypt, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, India, Washington, and of course - China where he married and raised a family.

Part of his job as a diplomat was learning the local language and culture. To say he did his homework would be the understatement of the year! He became recognized as one of the world's foremost authorities on ancient Chinese culture.

Long before the Magna Charter and our Western court systems, the Chinese had a rigorous and strict codification of laws and scale of punishments. In any of the Dee novels you might read you'll be fascinated not only by the three-mysteries-in-one Chinese tradition but instructed about the amazing judicial system of the Tang Dynasty, seeing the Judge in his home, his Tribunal and the complex city so vividly and authentically laid out for you.

Even if you are not a big whodunit fan the discussions of education, jobs, commerce, religious temples, and everything else in these fast reading books would make them more than worthwhile. The Emperor's Pearl, for example, starts with an annual boat race and an on-board crime scene investigation - yes, Judge Dee may have invented CSI! Flying through the pages three (and almost four) murders appear and the Judge wrestles with theories and suspects to his faithful and attentive Sergeant Hoong.

This is one of the most complex - certainly the most psychological - and the most surprising of the Dee books this person has read. It is a tale told by a genius, filled with sound and fury and legends of ghosts, signifying... I won't give it away, but I will tell you that women play a significant role that surprises even the esteemed Confucian Judge.