Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee (Dee Goong An)

Rating:
Summary: Interesting change of pace
Review: An actual translation of a Chinese detective novel, this is good fun for mystery buffs, and especially for anyone familiar with van Gulik's Judge Dee series.

The Judge, with his familiar retinue, faces three puzzling mysteries. Some elements of this are reworked in later Dee novels: the poisoned-bride story inspired part of THE CHINESE GOLD MURDERS and the killer widow story was lifted and slightly altered for THE CHINESE NAIL MURDERS.

Nevertheless, this is a breath of fresh air for those who want something different. Readers curious about Chinese culture will appreciate the text and the notes, and will enjoy a good, readable translation.

To start on the fictional Judge Dee novels, start with THE CHINESE GOLD MURDERS.

Rating:
Summary: Slightly Different
Review: Slightly different than the purly fictional Judge Dee novels that came after this. Judge Dee appears more fallable in these cases than in later novels and the various personalities seem to have a bit more depth, perhaps due to the fact that this work purports to represent actual historical events. In other words, you can just notice the difference between Van Gulik the translator and Van Gulik the author.

Rating:
Summary: Incredibly engrossing
Review: The three cases which Judge Dee solves are the definite center of this novel. Readers searching for in depth character analysis will be disappointed. However, those who enjoy the "Dragnet" approach to mystery will enjoy this novel as well. The cases are fascinating, and Judge Dee's approach to solving the crimes is a nice change to the standard western mystery.

Rating:
Summary: Great fun for mystery fans
Review: This book is a novel based on an actual character, Judge Dee, a Chinese magistrate who lived around 700 A.D. and whose job responsibilities involved solving local crimes. The Chinese detective story is different from what we are used to in that we know right off the bat whodunit; the fun is in watching the criminal be tracked down and caught. The three crimes in this novel, none of which are connected to each other, include a hardened criminal who robs and kills two merchants; an adulterous woman who murders her husband to live with her young lover, and a young student suspected of killing his bride on their wedding night. Aided by four trusty henchmen -- two reformed highwaymen, an old family servant, and an erstwhile con-man, Judge Dee unravels the tangled clues until he brings all the perpetrators to justice. Van Gulik shows us, in his excellent translation, that the ancient Chinese justice system, although harsh, was fair to all, and that no one was exempt from deserved punishment whatever their age, rank or gender. This book is a lot of fun for anyone who is interested in things Chinese, or who just enjoys a good, well-written detective story.

Rating:
Summary: Great fun for mystery fans
Review: This book is a novel based on an actual character, Judge Dee, a Chinese magistrate who lived around 700 A.D. and whose job responsibilities involved solving local crimes. The Chinese detective story is different from what we are used to in that we know right off the bat whodunit; the fun is in watching the criminal be tracked down and caught. The three crimes in this novel, none of which are connected to each other, include a hardened criminal who robs and kills two merchants; an adulterous woman who murders her husband to live with her young lover, and a young student suspected of killing his bride on their wedding night. Aided by four trusty henchmen -- two reformed highwaymen, an old family servant, and an erstwhile con-man, Judge Dee unravels the tangled clues until he brings all the perpetrators to justice. Van Gulik shows us, in his excellent translation, that the ancient Chinese justice system, although harsh, was fair to all, and that no one was exempt from deserved punishment whatever their age, rank or gender. This book is a lot of fun for anyone who is interested in things Chinese, or who just enjoys a good, well-written detective story.

Rating:
Summary: Very interesting Chinese mystery story
Review: This book is a translation of an actual Chinese mystery novel from the 1700s. It offers a very interesting look at Chinese culture from the time of the Manchu Empire. The writer, an expert on the language went on to write a number of other stories all using the same character (Judge Dee) but with his own ideas for the plots. I recomend them as well. -- Colin Glassey

Rating:
Summary: Different type of mystery novel
Review: This is a reprint of a detective novel written in the 18th century that is set in 7th century China. Written by someone well versed in Chinese law, it outs three of Judge Dee's most famous cases together into one novel. Judge Dee was a district Magistrate, a combination prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner (if necessary). Magistrates had pretty wide authority to interrogate anyone, and use any method to get a confession, including beatings and torture. But, if a Magistrate executed someone who was later found to be innocent (for instance), the Magistrate was executed.

In the first case, a pair of silk merchants spend the night at a hostel in a certain town. The next morning, just outside of town, one of them is found dead. The local Warden (the town policeman) immediately accuses the hostel owner of killing, then robbing, the merchant, something the hostel owner vigorously denies. The second case involves a young bride who is poisoned on her wedding night. In the third case, a young widow and her mother live alone. The widow's husband died a year previously under less than clear circumstances. Not only does the young widow lock herself in her room for half a day every day, she also gets very angry and belligerent toward her mother whenever any men come around; not just potential suitors, but any men. As Judge Dee investigates, and interroagtes both women, the circumstances of the husband's death get more and more mysterious.

Chinese detective novels are very different than their western counterparts. The culprit is introduced in the beginning of the story, and the interest is in seeing how the crime is solved. They tend to get very detailed, especially concerning the method of torture and execution, so a length of several hundred pages is common. This novel is one of the shorter ones that are available.

For mystery lovers who want to read a very different type of novel, this is worth checking out. Agatha Christie has little to fear from Chinese detective novels regarding competition, but it is still worth the reader's time.

Rating:
Summary: A different approach to Judge Dee
Review: Was this the first of the Robert Van Gulik Judge Dee mysteries? It reads like a first novel. Or perhaps the sinologist wanted to present something closer to a real Chinese mystery. In this book the Judge's assistants seem one-dimensional; they do not work well together and there is no camaraderie; and the Judge himself is a bit stiff compared to other Judge Dee books.

An aspect of this book that suggests it predates others is the inclusion of unecessary accounts of travelling when nothing much happens. Similar to cheap TV westerns that consume time by showing the hero riding left and then right across the screen this book wastes pages reporting on journeying from one town to another. In other books the author omits such detail unless some incident occurs during the travel.

The author was fascinated by the traditional Chinese mystery story, but worried that western and contemporary sensibilities would not understand when characters began long discourses in arts or philosophy that thrilled the original scholarly audiences. However, perhaps to give a taste of the real thing, in this book the author interrupts the story midway with an "Interlude" or divertisement in which three actors perform in a traditional skit.

The story is set in the 7th Century when the monarchy had absolute and divine power. However the punishment meted out in this book seems more severe and horrifying than in other Judge Dee stories. Interrogating suspects by such torture is not usually encountered by western readers. The ones in this book are extreme and gruesome. Other Judge Dee stories do not depict such vindictiveness.

Despite its many awkward aspects this book contains the usual brilliant, bizarre and fascinating solutions to the featured mysteries that are the hallmark of the Judge Dee series. Perhaps this ought to be recommended for reading AFTER all the rest.