Have you met Judge Dee? He was a district magistrate during the T'ang dynasty, some 1500 years ago in China. He was a real person, but he is best known today in his fictional incarnation as the central character in a series of first-rate novels by a Dutch diplomat, Robert Van Gulik. Actually, Van Gulik's first attempt at a Judge Dee story was his translation of an existing manuscript telling the story of some of the judge's cases. I have been a fan of the Van Gulik novels for many years. Here's my review of what was really the second book in the series, and the one written after the author's initial translation. Here's what I had to say about The Chinese Bell Murders:
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Let’s go back nearly 1500 years to Imperial China. Judge Dee, the newly-appointed magistrate in the town of Poo-Yang, finds himself involved in three difficult criminal cases. First, there is the murder and rape of a shopkeeper’s daughter – it appears to be a straightforward case, but Judge Dee is doubtful. Then there is the curious problem posed by the monks at a Buddhist Temple, who may be offering much more than their prayers to cure the infertility of the married women who visit them. And finally there is the long-standing, dangerous and bloody feud between two old families – and in resolving that problem, the Judge will find his own life endangered. Welcome to the China of The Chinese Bell Murders, by Robert Van Gulik.
Robert Hans Van Gulik was a Dutch diplomat, a linguist, a student of Chinese and other Asian languages and traditions – and a student of the detective story. His first effort in the field was a translation of an old story featuring a great and popular Chinese magistrate – detective named Judge Dee. The story itself dated from the Ming era, but the historic Judge Dee himself lived many hundreds of years before that, during the T’ang dynasty, nearly 1500 years ago. After that first translation, Van Gulik went on to write a series of books featuring Judge Dee, all generally following the pattern set by the classic Chinese detective story.
The Chinese Bell Murders, published in 1958, was the second in that series and Van Gulik's first mystery written after that earlier translation. Judge Dee is confronted with three puzzles to solve – which was typical in Chinese detective stories. Judge Dee was the village magistrate – known in ancient China as the father-and-mother official, because he filled so many functions. He was the primary – often the only – governmental authority in a village, handling all administrative duties, settling civil disputes, and investigating and solving crimes. In the stories, at any rate, the magistrate was all-knowing and all-seeing. The original stories usually relied heavily on the supernatural, either providing divine guidance to the magistrate or finding ghosts and evil spirits behind the dirty work. The Judge Dee novels have very little of this: the judge generally solves his cases through the use of his intelligence and observations, aided by his closest and most trusted assistants.
There is little interconnection among the three cases in The Chinese Bell Murders, except for the fact that they are all serious problems which Judge Dee must solve as he arrives in the town of Poo-Yang to take up his official duties. First, he is confronted with the rape and murder of the shopkeeper’s daughter. Suspicion has fallen on the young woman’s lover, a young student. But when Judge Dee takes over the case, he notices certain weaknesses in the evidence and peculiarities in the case which convince him that the student is almost certainly not guilty. He and his lieutenants set out to find out what really happened. In the course of doing so, they meet a variety of interesting people – for Van Gulik used his novels to inform and educate readers about the day-to-day customs of life in Ancient China.
Judge Dee is also confronted with an odd problem at the Buddhist Temple of Boundless Mercy. Childless women have been coming to spend the night praying to the statue of a goddess – and finding their prayers have been answered. Is it a miracle? Judge Dee has his doubts. But the Buddhists are a powerful political group, and the judge must find a way to prove that the miracle cures for childless women are anything but miraculous.
Finally, the Judge is brought a problem of a long-standing feud between two families. The feud has led to a series of murders and assassinations, and the judge must solve the mysteries and find a way to bring the crimes home to the wealthy and evil villain responsible for them. In doing so, the judge and his assistants nearly lose their lives.
While those are the three main plots, I am hardly doing justice to the stories or to the skill with which Van Gulik tells them. He observes many of the niceties of the traditional storytellers, blending their traditions with a fascinating portrait of life in imperial China. He also follows the rather gruesome tradition of describing in considerable detail the executions of the principal criminals.
We have talked about the Judge Dee stories before, and I have always found them very much worth reading and re-reading. Obviously, the style, not to mention the detection, is going to be different from the Western tradition. But for Western readers, Van Gulik does observe many of the traditions of the modern detective story, particularly the play-fair puzzle at the center of his mysteries. The Chinese Bell Murders is a fine introduction to Robert Van Gulik – and, of course, to Judge Dee.
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To listen to the original podcast review, please click here.
Next week: Nothing Can Rescue Me, by Elizabeth Daly.
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