For our excursion into the Classic Mysteries vault this week, I've chosen something that tells a story set long ago and far away. It's one of Robert Van Gulik's marvelous Judge Dee mysteries, set in T'ang dynasty China - roughly midway through the seventh century. Judge Dee was a real person, but most of Van Gulik's stories about him were pure fiction. They also provided readers with a picture of what we know about everyday life in ancient China. One of the best titles in the series, I think, is The Chinese Gold Murders, written in 1959. Here's the text of the audio review I recorded for the Classic Mysteries podcast several years ago, slightly edited for clarity:
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The year is 663. A young, newly-minted Chinese official leaves the imperial capital on his way to his first post as magistrate. Before he finishes his journey, he will have been waylaid by highwaymen, whom he will turn into trusted aides. He will arrive in the fictional district of Peng-lai, where the previous magistrate has been murdered. He will solve a variety of terrible crimes. And he will begin a career as a Chinese government official which will eventually bring him considerable fame. Welcome to The Chinese Gold Murders, by Robert Van Gulik, chronologically the first of the Judge Dee mysteries.
One of the many things I enjoy about the novels by Robert Van Gulik featuring the exploits of Judge Dee is the fact that it is not necessary to read them in any particular order. Certainly, they were written out of order; you can find a good chronology in the Wikipedia entry on “Judge Dee.” But while some of the books do refer to events that happen in earlier books, no prior knowledge of those past events is necessary for your full enjoyment.
The Chinese Gold Murders, written in 1959, was the third written from scratch by Van Gulik – I do not count his first book, The Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee, which was actually translated from an old Chinese manuscript by Van Gulik and exists outside the chronology created for and by the later books. The Chinese Gold Murders is first in that chronology, telling of Judge Dee’s assignment to his first post as magistrate in the district of Peng-Lai.
It is clear that the judge will not have an easy time of it – in fact, two of his friends in the Imperial capital try to talk him out of accepting the position. Judge Dee, however, has a very strong sense of his own duty and is anxious, as he puts it, “to have an opportunity right away for getting rid of dry-as-dust theorizing and paper work.” Judge Dee is talking about the first case that will await him in Peng-Lai: the murder of his predecessor; the previous magistrate was poisoned, and the case is unsolved – in fact, it is an impossible murder, for there appears to have been no way that anyone could have put poison in the magistrate’s tea.
At any rate, Judge Dee sets out for Peng-Lai, accompanied by a faithful family retainer, Sergeant Hoong (who will become a major character in many of the Judge Dee stories). On the way, they are accosted by two highwaymen, Ma Joong and Chiao Tai, who wind up in a swordfight with Judge Dee – and who decide that they want to become his followers and assistants.
At any rate, when they all arrive in Peng Lai, Judge Dee begins to work on the murder of the former magistrate – and he finds that he has a great number of other mysteries to be solved at the same time. There appears to be a man-eating tiger attacking people outside the city gates. A wealthy ship owner comes to the tribunal to report that his bride has disappeared. The chief clerk of the tribunal has also disappeared. The body of a Buddhist monk, who may have been murdered, turns up unexpectedly in the wrong grave. A Korean prostitute delivers a message to Judge Dee that had been left with her by his predecessor. And there are reports that the ghost of that former magistrate has been seen wandering in the tribunal.
Judge Dee finds that he must juggle all these cases – and it is only in solving them that he discovers that they all appear to be interconnected – and, moreover, that there is something else underlying all the mysteries which, when the Judge uncovers it, will turn out to be a huge and serious plot involving some very high officials indeed.
Woven into this story, as always in Van Gulik’s novel, is a great deal of information about the everyday life in seventh century China – particularly as it would have been seen in the eyes of the seventeenth century Chinese writers who turned out enormously popular detective stories featuring heroes such as Judge Dee. But just as the judge himself was, in fact, based on a historical Chinese official, so Van Gulik’s twentieth century novels were solely the product of his own imagination – though influenced, quite clearly, by those seventeenth century stories with which he was so familiar.
After his first translation of The Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee, Van Gulik issued a challenge to other writers to come up with similar stories that followed the format of the classical Chinese detective story. Nobody took him up on his challenge, so he wrote sixteen original books about Judge Dee. The Chinese Gold Murders is one of my favorites – it is a fairly upbeat and cheerful entry in the series and a good way to meet Judge Dee and his closest assistants. I am happy to see that the books apparently remain in print (though I don't see either audio or e-book editions) and your favorite mystery book dealer should be able to get them for you.
To listen to the complete original review from the podcast, click here.
Next: Diagnosis: Impossible, stories by Edward D. Hoch.
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