Murder in Canton [Paperback]

Robert Hans Van Gulik (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons (1966)
• ASIN: B0014I7DR0
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another chapter in a unique series, October 6, 2000

By 

Andrew Limsk (Kuala Lumpur, MY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Murder in Canton: A Judge Dee Mystery (Paperback)

This book is part of Van Gulik's unique series of Judge Dee novels which chronicle the cases investigated by the famous magistrate of classical Chinese detective stories. A staple of the Judge Dee stories are the multi-layered plot and accurate historical details of ancient Chinese culture and practices and this book does not disappoint in both areas.

In this chapter of the series, Judge Dee is assigned to the city of Canton to investigate the disappearance and subsequent murder of a Chinese noble. Numerous side plots are thrown into the mix, involving a blind cricket-catcher and mysterious Arabian assassins. All of which the Judge slowly unravels using ingenuity and plain, old-fashioned deductive prowess which is the highlight of all the books in the series.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great read!, November 4, 2000

By 

Ellen Whyte "ellen437" (Selangor, Malaysia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Murder in Canton: A Judge Dee Mystery (Paperback)

Judge Dee is an imperial magistrate who travels the country solving mysteries and murders. Not content merely to judge cases as they come to court, Judge Dee investigates crimes himself.

Now Chief Lord Justice, Judge Dee is sent undercover to the city of Canton. His job: to find out what happened to the Court Censor. Was he murdered or has he disappeared for other reasons? Dealing with practised and conniving Imperial Court intriguers, Dee finds the case complicated as a host of foreigners are involved including a mysterious Arab with a curved sword and an exotic belly dancer. Undaunted, and with the help of his officers, the loyal Tao Gan and Chiao Tai, Dee sets out to unravel the case.

Judge Dee was practising in the 7th century but the writer, Robert Van Gulik, was a Dutch diplomat living in China in the early 20th Century. Interested in Chinese history, he decided to write a series of detective novel based old Chinese stories. Beautifully written, each Judge Dee story is a pearl of literature. The English is beautiful yet modern, easy to read yet evocative of the China that existed over 13 centuries ago.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing End to an Enjoyable Series, April 4, 2005

By 

Ty Treadwell, author of The Devil Did Grin (GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Murder in Canton: A Judge Dee Mystery (Paperback)

Everyone who has read the entire Judge Dee series knows that while the writing is only fair, the settings and characters make all of these books a pleasant read. Unfortunately Murder in Canton, the last book in the Judge Dee series, is a poor way to end the adventures of this Chinese version of Sherlock Holmes.

The mystery itself is somewhat muddled and so uninteresting that I found myself nodding off during parts of the book. I ended up skimming through several parts of the novel and by the end I couldn't even remember who some of the suspects were! I have to say that even though the author basically uses the same plots over and over during this series, this particular book just didn't hold my interest.

Another disappointment was the fact that Ma Joong, one of Judge Dee's assistants, was completely absent from this book. He was always the funniest character in the series and he was sorely missed in this novel.

If you're like me and you enjoy reading a series in its entirety (I've actually read all of the Judge Dee books twice), then you should give Murder in Canton a try; just don't expect to be overwhelemed, because this is by far one of the weakest books in an otherwise good series.