Customer Reviews

Murder in Canton

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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.

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.

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.

By chance I read this, the thirteenth Judge Dee book, before reading any of the previous stories. Judging from some of the other comments, I am in for a real treat because while I greatly enjoyed this installment in this unique detective series, the others are reputedly much better. Hurrah for that.

The Judge Dee books were written by China scholar, linguist, and diplomat Robert Van Gulik (1910-1967) mostly between 1950 and his premature death. Judge Dee is a 7th century Confucian magistrate and detective. Van Gulik got onto writing his own detective stories after translating a book of 18th century Chinese detective stories set in the 7th century and featuring "Judge Dee" (or Ti Jen-chieh).

'Murder in Canton' takes Judge Dee to that southern city to covertly investigate the disappearance of a high central government official (Imperial censor). Dee is accompanied by his two aides Chiao Tai and Tao Gan as they unravel the apparently traditional "three puzzles". They find themselves caught in a web of intrigue that includes a possibly rebellious Arab, a sensuous Arab dancer, wealthy Cantonese merchants and financiers, part-Persian slave girls and dead bodies left and right. Van Gulik uses his knowledge of China to weave fascinating details of 7th century Canton into his tale, including his own illustrations (some quite pleasantly, umm, revealing).

Interesting, educational, and an awful lot of fun to read. I look forward to the rest of series with most un-Confucian desire.

I was intrigued by the concept of a detective mystery set in Tang Dynasty China. Unfortunately the author hasn't mastered the essentials of writing a really good novel. The characters didn't feel believable, the dialogue is stiff and unnatural, and the plot is slow-moving and contrived.