The Haunted Monastery and the Chinese Maze Murders [Paperback]

Robert van Gulik (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 5, 2011

Two full novels by Orientalist and diplomat Robert van Gulik recount the further fictional adventures of the renowned Judge Dee, a real-life magistrate and statesman of seventh-century T'ang China. Accurate in their background and thrillingly imaginative and original in their storytelling, van Gulik's novels abound in atmospheric entertainment. 27 illustrations.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (October 5, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486235025
• ISBN-13: 978-0486235028
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #877,824 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Whodunit??, April 2, 2002

By 

JLind555 - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Haunted Monastery and the Chinese Maze Murders (Paperback)

Robert Van Gulik evidently had a lot of fun translating "Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee"; when he couldn't find any more Judge Dee mysteries, he decided to write his own. "The Haunted Monastery" takes place during one night (appropriately dark and stormy) in a Buddhist monastery where several young girls have disappeared without a trace; among the characters are a Taoist sage, a dissolute abbot, a performing bear, and a female impersonator, all set against a backdrop of dark winding corridors, secret rooms and a version of the Taoist Hell. By morning the storm outside has abated, and the mystery inside has been solved. "The Chinese Maze Murders" involves an overgrown, impenetrable (literally and figuratively) garden maze, a painting with a secret clue that will give the key to how to reach the maze's center; two young sisters, and a particularly vile murderer who specializes in torturing and killing young ladies. Of the two, I thought "Monastery" was more fun, but both books are excellent examples of the Chinese mystery genre and Van Gulik succeeds in capturing the essence of the original Judge Dee. Of all Van Gulik's Judge Dee novels, "Monastery" and "Maze" come closest to the unknown Chinese author and are therefore, for this reviewer, his two best original books.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Two of the Best Judge Dee Mysteries., May 11, 2000

By 

Gerard Gritzmacher (Mason City, Iowa, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Haunted Monastery and the Chinese Maze Murders (Paperback)

I've read all of the Judge Dee Mysteries and this double novel is one of the best. The Haunted Monastery gives fans a fascinating glimpse into Judge Dee's family life, including relationships among his three wives. The plots all revolve around the loves and mores of the Chinese upper and lower classes. The Chinese Maze Murders follows Judge Dee's dangerous attempt to end a criminal overlord's stranglehold on the Judge's new district of Lan-fang. The story of how Judge Dee out maneuvers this ruthless godfather and his hidden backers provides an excellent read. Don't miss this economically priced complete edition of two of the best Judge Dee mysteries

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Judge Dee does it all, over and over again, November 27, 2011

By 

Melvin Anderson "author Diabetes?What's That?" (Puyallup. WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Haunted Monastery and the Chinese Maze Murders (Paperback)

A word to the wise, I hope, read the foreword and postscript to "The Chinese Maze Murders" first, even before "The Haunted Monastery". If you don't you may think you are reading a modern, (nineteenth or twentieth century) Chinese novel. There are both glaring and minor differences in style and content, multiple wives glossed over, combined judge, jury and prosecutor in one person, and other differences, only explained in the passages cited. But both stories are excellent. Judge Dee lived from A. D. 730 to 800, the stories are written in the Chinese of the 1300 to 1400 T'ang Dynasties for the Chinese of the twentieth Century by the Ambassador and Sinologist Van Gulik but were so well received he copied them over for the Western World. And they are worth reading both as examples of Chinese mysteries and its closeness to Western ideas.
"The Haunted Monastery" starts our almost as a supernatural story but as the tale evolves the supernatural devices drain away until only the appearance of the one armed woman and her carrier need be explained. Dee shows his ability as a detective, finding due relationships where they exist and where he can;t find them continues anyhow until all is explained. His plodding on works, we are given his views and shown how he fits events into them until a whole is created, and then the trial. all the way to its final execution.
"The Chinese Maze Murders" is even more complicated. Politics is one of the reigning plot drivers here but even Judge Dee treads cautiously among this labyrinth. First there is the unmet new magistrate for Lanfan, then the double talking warden at the jail, followed by the inspection of the offices and finally the kicking out of the warden with the threat of return. Dee knows he has no military power nor training even if he had the power so he resorts to bluff. Chien Pow is quickly deprived of power and jailed. Trials are held and sentences executed, Judge Dee is the territorial ruler, back in the hands of the Imperial Power. Now he must solve the political killings, find the missing woman, jail the military deserters, reenlist the good soldiers who desire it, retain in his command those good ones who wish it, and in general straighten things out and then relax. This involves inheritance, and politics, Dee proves to have a good head for straightening this out, as well, for he manages to do so although difficult. I intend reading more Judge Dee stories for several reasons, first because they are good stories, and secondly to improve my understanding of Chinese historical justice, to see if there is any relationship to what is going on over there now.