Emperors Pearl (Mass Market Paperback)

by Robert Van Gulik (Author) "A tall man was lighting a stick of incense on the altar of the River Goddess..." (more)
Key Phrases: ten gold bars, dragonboat races, noon rice, Sergeant Hoong, Tong Mai, Amber Lady (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
This pair of Van Guliks, first published in 1963 and 1961, respectively, are the latest in the series of "Judge Dee Mystery" reprints. Judge Dee is a detective in ancient China, who, in the nature of Conan Doyle's and Christie's protagonists, is more cerebral than hard-boiled.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review
"The title of this book and the book itself have much in common. Each is a jewel, a rare and precious find."-Atlanta Times (Atlanta Times )

"If you have not yet discovered Judge Dee and his faithful Sgt. Hoong, I envy you that initial pleasure which comes from the discovery of a great detective story. For the magistrate of Poo-yang belongs in that select group of fictional detectives headed by the renowned Sherlock Holmes."-Robert Kirsch, Los Angeles Times (Robert Kirsch Los Angeles Times ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Warner Books (May 12, 1974)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446754528
• ISBN-13: 978-0446754521
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,895,299 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Judge Dee at his best, April 5, 2004

By	JLind555 - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Emperor's Pearl: A Judge Dee Mystery (Paperback)

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Satisfying mystery in exotic setting, June 15, 2003

By	David Brukman (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Emperor's Pearl: A Judge Dee Mystery (Paperback)

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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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clever mystery with a little extra, March 30, 2008

By	Ronald van Vollenhoven (Sweden) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Emperor's Pearl: A Judge Dee Mystery (Paperback)

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!