It all begins on the night of the Poo-yang dragonboat races in 699 A.D.: a drummer in the leading boat collapses, and the body of a beautiful young woman turns up in a deserted country mansion. There, Judge Dee—tribunal magistrate, inquisitor, and public avenger—steps in to investigate the murders and return order to the Tang Dynasty.
In The Emperor’s Pearl, the judge discovers that these two deaths are connected by an ancient tragedy involving a near-legendary treasure stolen from the Imperial Harem one hundred years earlier. The terrifying figure of the White Lady, a river goddess enshrined on a bloodstained altar, looms in the background of the investigation. Clues are few and elusive, but under the expert hand of Robert van Gulik, this mythic jigsaw puzzle assembles itself into a taut mystery.
“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
“The title of this book and the book itself have much in common. Each is a jewel, a rare and precious find.”—Atlanta Times
Just The Man She Needed and the body of a beautiful young woman turns up in a deserted country mansion. There Enchanting Baby (The Birth Place Judge Dee—tribunal magistrate To Tempt a Cowgirl inquisitor Innocent Sins (Harlequin Presents, and public avenger—steps in to investigate the murders and return order to the Tang Dynasty.
In The Emperor’s Pearl Wild Nights with Her Wicked Boss the judge discovers that these two deaths are connected by an ancient tragedy involving a near-legendary treasure stolen from the Imperial Harem one hundred years earlier. The terrifying figure of the White Lady Only a Whisper a river goddess enshrined on a bloodstained altar Midsummer Night (Lady Julia Grey, looms in the background of the investigation. Clues are few and elusive Copper Lake Secrets but under the expert hand of Robert van Gulik Always You this mythic jigsaw puzzle assembles itself into a taut mystery.
“If you have not yet discovered Judge Dee and his faithful Sgt. Hoong You Sexy Thing! 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 North Country Hero Los Angeles Times
“The title of this book and the book itself have much in common. Each is a jewel Running Into Temptation a rare and precious find.”—Atlanta Times
Once again, author {sitelink}Robert van Gulik seamlessly weaves together a riveting mystery and a history lesson. This time, readers will learn about bloodthirsty cults that predate Confucianism and Buddhism in Ancient China.
Judge Dee and his three wives partake of a boat race in honor of a river goddess in A.D. 699. In less enlightened times, a young man was sacrificed to the White Lady in order to ensure good harvests and fishing. However, as in old, a young man named Tong Mai, a disreputable student acting as the drummer on the boat favored to win the race, dies during the race. Before the novel concludes, three people will die. Needless to say, the perspicacious Judge Dee will discover the murderer and the motive and also right a longago wrong.
Like Judge Dee’s faithful Sergeant Hoong, I never saw the resolution coming. It’s yet another fabulous Judge Dee mystery. Pretty solid mystery set in 7thcentury China.
Judge Dee is an allaround 'Renaissance man' action hero, going undercover to solve a series of murders in his township.
Based on a reallife district magistrate and diplomat of the Tang Dynasty (almost a wildwest sheriff or marshal). Written by Dutch diplomat Robert Hans van Gulik in 1963, 9th in his series of fictions following his translation of The Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee (an eighteenthcentury Chinese murder mystery by an unknown author).
SRC 2018 TUM 5.8, and IBB set on another continent. επιτελους να ερθω στα λημερια τα αγαπημενα. τελείωσε κι αυτή η περιπέτεια του δικαστή Τι αφήνοντας ένα μειδίαμα τι καλύτερο να ζητήσεις από ένα βιβλίο??!!! Judge Dee gets confused (temporarily, of course!) and that gives Robert Van Gulik a chance to prove his literary talent. The heat, the leisure game, the nuisance provide a credible backdrop for the miscalculated theories. The amalgamation of motives is enough to alert the readers, what follows ensuite is a fascinating riddle. Gulikovy případy soudce Ti jsou sázkou na jistotu a to bez ohledu na díl. Ano, jsou v zásadě všechny na jedno brdo, ale je třeba jedním dechem dodat, že hledáteli " klasicky vystavěnou historickou přímočarou detektivku, kde zločinci jsou zlotřilí, hrdinové moudří a kde se věnuje stejný prostor postavám a jejich eskapádám jako záhadám, vraždám a podvodům a ve které se dozvíte i mnohé o zvycích a době", tak těžko hledat lepšího autora než právě generacemi prověřeného van Gulika. I do like the setting of the book, very nice character of old times. However, it felt that the theme was rather repetitive art students in love, old wicked men, women selling their body and stolen jewelery. This appears often in the books and now we have a full collection. However, I think it was quite clever at the end for Judge Di to use a fake hand to scare the suspects. This was something new. άλλη μια πολύ καλή ιστορία του δικαστή τι Judge Dee and his wives are attending the annual dragonboat races when one of the drummers suddenly dies as his boat is about to win. Being magistrateonthespot, the Judge takes control when the coroner rules it poisoning, and starts the investigation. Before long, another death occurs.
What is interesting about this series is that they tend to be rather fastmoving 'mysteries' wrapped up in a 7th century China setting. Judge Dee is a historical literary figure that has a great deal of cultural importance and in his role as (fictional) magistrate, acting as detective, judge, and jury, he gives the reader insight into an earlier China. This one takes place in the height of summer, and I found the mention of techniques used to cope with the heat very interesting. There were cool cloths one could dip and wrap around one's neck, or large bowls of melting ice that were used to cool a room.
I use the word 'mysteries' lightly, because van Gulik tries to source his material from some of the legends, so there are different sensibilities involved. As is sometimes shared in the introductions of various books, the Chinese at the time believed in divine/supernatural connections in these situations, so it's not always a matter of finding a clue, but of understanding a person's fundamental character and societal standing. At any rate, I say this because although the Judge and his righthandman, Sgt. Hoong, do look around the crime scenes, examine bodies, and interview various people, a lot of the Judge's solving is really just guesswork. There's a rather long section where he goes over three possible solutions with Hoong, with limited evidence for any of the possibilities. So don't expect a tightlywoven whodunit.
There was a moment or two of levity in this one, provided by the unusual Violet, a Mongolian woman who runs a wrestling school. I had to chuckle at the way she was so comfortable using the protocols and expectations of the Chinese legal system to establish her somewhat unorthodox legitimacy. I also found the tortoise adorable and loved his reoccurring role.
Unlike the other Judge Dee books I've read, while there was a sort of mythical/superstitious connection at rare times, this was one that avoided the supernatural. On the other side, this focused a great deal on the 'abnormality' and 'urges' of the murderer as part of the psychology of the crime and it's resolution. It's odd; the denouement reminded me just a bit of Poirot or Marple setting the scene, although it was done in a 7th century China kind of way. I am a long time fan of Robert Hans van Gulik's Chinese Detective Judge Dee.
The author, a diplomat, scholar, musician, artist and mystery novel writer has much to recommend him. Many of his scholarly publications are or were 30 years ago considered definitive studies.
His scholarly works included topics from The Chinese lute, to Chinese sexual practices to Chinese art. He was a linguist and enough of an artist to illustrate his Judge Dee Books.
Judge Dee, was an actual Judge or to quote the sources: Ti Jenchieh (c. 630c. 700), magistrate and statesman of the T'ang court. Van Guik came to know of him via a second hand book relating later stories that had grown up around the crime solving skills and market place story tellertales that had collected in the name of Judge Dee.
Von Gulik's first effort to translate the Chinese story into a western version was a private edition. It became so popular that he would ultimately write 18 books in the series, including some short stories.
Part of the attraction of these books was the ongoing problem of bridging the Chinese tradition of judge/detective stories with western traditions. For example in the Chinese traditions:
Judges did much of their own investigations. It was believed that they could connect with the spiritual world in such a way that ghosts or spirits would be part of solving the crimes. Taken to extreme, it was believed that the judge could never be wrong, but a major part of his job was explaining to the people of the community how he had divined the answer. A judge who could not explain his solutions might find the locals willing to appeal overly aggressive judgments by rioting against the judge and killing him.
Many of the Judge Dee stories include plotuseful insights into the the non court life of Imperial Chinese, its culture and bureaucracy.
All of the above is missing in this book. It is mercifully short. In content this book lacks charm, or the Van Gulik magic. Too much of the text is given over to elaborate discussions of alternative theories and of course all of these are wrong. It is not too much of a spoiler to say that this is one case that Judge Dee never solves so much as bluffs.
Missing in this book are many of the loyal subordinates that were part of his inner circle of law enforcement officers. Sgt Hoong is present but only barely and mostly serving as a listening board for the ramblings of his normally heroic boss. Missing is anything specifically Chinese. The feel of the setting and of the story is generic, flat and non engaging.
For what is worth the title is a nice example of a MacGuffin. That is according to Merriam Webster: an object, event, or character in a film or story that serves to set and keep the plot in motion despite usually lacking intrinsic importance.
What this review is intended to convey is that: this is not the best of the Judge Dee series.
The entire series is not available in a Kindle version; this one could have been skipped.
Van Gulik is a better writer than he is in this book. Get the others.