Customer Reviews

The Emperor's Pearl

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

More than half a century ago, Robert Van Gulik translated an ancient Chinese detective novel about a real-life Chinese magistrate named Dee Jen-Djieh who lived around 700 A.D.; evidently he had so much fun that he decided to write a few more Judge Dee mysteries of his own. "The Emperor's Pearl" is among his better ones. On the night of the dragon boat races in Poo-Yang district, the drummer of the boat favored to win the race collapses; turns out he's been poisoned. Judge Dee is called in to investigate, and finds out he has not one murder on his hands, but a whole string of deaths involving a missing domino, a malevolent river goddess, and the theft of the Emperor's Pearl, still unsolved after a hundred years. With the help of his trusty seargeant Hoong Liang and a lady wrestler named Violet Liang (no relation), Judge Dee unravels the tangled mess and puts everything to rights.

Unlike the classic Chinese detective novel which reveals in the beginning whodunit and focuses instead on how the crime was solved, "The Emperor's Pearl" is more like a contemporary novel in which we have to wait for the end for the resolution. There are some interesting plot twists and turns and enough surprises to satisfy the most diehard mystery fan. It's too bad Van Gulik didn't bring back the formidable Violet Liang in a subsequent novel; she's a delightful invention who's worth a book all by herself.

Judge Dee, a magistate in 7th century China, is forced by the weather to stop at a remote mountain monastery. There, while the storm rages, Dee observes suspicious behavior and hears stories of ghosts and vague accusations of murder.

The investigation shows the judge many secrets, some personal and some criminal, places him in danger of his life, and exposes to the reader the religions and manners of ancient China; surprisingly modern in some respects and almost unimaginable in others.

In the end, Dee's perception of human motivations as well as his logical mind allow him to redress injustice, improve the lives of several young people, and give the reader a solid solution to intellectual puzzles.

A mystery in the classical sense, this concentrates more on the plot than on characters, and gives a well-integrated lecture in history.
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This novel, written by the author both in English and in Dutch ("De Parel van de Keizer") is part of the second series of mystery books featuring Judge Dee as the sleuth. These novels are a bit shorter and a bit "lighter" than the first series of five books, which starts with "The Chinese Maze Murders" ("Labyrinth in Lan-Fang"). Once again Judge Dee solves three unrelated mysteries, using his skills of observation and logical thinking, employing casual conversations with various protagonists as his main approach. However, in this book Judge Dee also surprises the reader by an unusual gambit that almost misfires.

What I liked most about this book were hints of the supernatural that nonetheless stay within the limits of the traditional mystery novel.

This novel makes great bedtime or vacation reading!

The annual boat race is a popular tradition in many Chinese cities near rivers and lakes. The festival provides an opporunity for feasting and betting, but in some cases it's an outgrowth of an older tradition. The capricious river goddess will not give good harvests unless celebrated once per year. When a drummer on one of the boats collapses and dies, the old folks are happy--they say that the Goddess claimed her sacrifice.

Suspecting human guilt, Judge Dee investigates--and finds complex stories of greed and passion, plus the legendary theft of an Imperial treasure a century ago.

This is an enjoyable mystery in the classical style--investigation of a puzzle. The story combines eternal human passions--greed, fear, lust--with he exotic culture of China 14 centuries ago. The characters are colorful, the investigation solid, and humor understated--what else would a mystery fan want?

--inotherworlds.com

I thought I had read all of the Judge Dee books and then I stumbled across this one. I absolutely love Van Gulik and this book does not disappoint.

I have read several Judge Dee mysteries and this is one of my favorites. There are a lot of interesting plot twists and some sad and cruel surprises. Judge Dee has the help of Sargeant Hoong in this one, but Ma Joong and Chiao Tai are on leave so Dee must travel to some of the seedier places by himself. I stayed up until late at night to finish this one...enough said.

Moderately interesting narrative! What goes against it is it's exorbitant price! That too for such a little book, barely even makes it to 200 pages. Not much value for money.

Although the title of this review could be taken for a summary of the plot, I'm really using it to describe this edition, published by the University of Chicago Press. Illustrations by the author appear in full page size!

Here Judge Dee tackles a strange murder case that begins when the drummer on the dragonboat favored to win the festival races drops dead just before the finish line. As Dee traces the prior movements of the murdered man, he goes in the guise of a boxing master. A beautiful and refined woman hires him to guard her steps as she goes to a meeting. Although she pays him well and dismisses him, Dee can't resist following her farther. He finds her still-warm body and the gold she had in her sleeve is missing. Then he discovers that the gold she was carrying was to have been used to purchase the Emperor's Pearl, a treasure that had gone missing one hundred years ago and which had caused the execution of four people!

Dee is hampered on this case because his usual assistants are out of town. Only his old servant, Sgt. Hoong is available to help. With the "tough guys" out of town, the action lags in spots. But with the assistance of a small tortoise, Dee draws the murderer out of hiding in a denouement in the library that will have the reader on the edge of the chair, hair standing on end!

This novel, written by the author both in English and in Dutch ("De Parel van de Keizer") is part of the second series of mystery books featuring Judge Dee as the sleuth. These novels are a bit shorter and a bit "lighter" than the first series of five books, which starts with "The Chinese Maze Murders" ("Labyrinth in Lan-Fang"). Once again Judge Dee solves three unrelated mysteries, using his skills of observation and logical thinking, employing casual conversations with various protagonists as his main approach. However, in this book Judge Dee also surprises the reader by an unusual gambit that almost misfires.

What I liked most about this book were hints of the supernatural that nonetheless stay within the limits of the traditional mystery novel.

This novel makes great bedtime or vacation reading!

I am so lucky to have found this story--Judge Dee stories qare wonderful, and I only wish they would put them out in CD form rather than cassette tape, but These are antiques, and they were in very good condition