The Chinese Lake Murders (Judge Dee Mysteries)

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful! Suspenseful & Colorful.
Review: I usually read mysteries set in the 20s-40s with a female heroine. I picked this up randomly and LOVED it! My copy is not the one shown here, but it is the 1960 version. My copy has illustrations of the town and the boat which were very helpful. This story taught me a lot about ancient China - fascinating - without being didactic at all! There were several mysteries wound into this one little book so there was plenty to keep you entertained. It was very suspenseful. I also learned some life lessons from Judge Dee. :)

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Entry in Judge Dee Series
Review: The third novel in Robert Van Gulik's historical mystery series about a crime-solving Imperial District Magistrate in seventh-century China, sees Judge Dee transferred to the small town of Han-Yuan, along with his family and assistants - Sergeant Hoong, Ma Joong and Chiao Tai. Han-Yuan is only sixty miles from the imperial capital; however it is a small town cut off from most of the world as it surrounded by mountains. The town lies on the shore of a mountain lake which town locals whisper, holds mysterious, even supernatural forces. The novel opens with Judge Dee attending a banquet in his honor on a flower-boat - a floating house of prostitution. At the end of the evening, the judge discovers a famous local courtesan lying dead in the lake water! The suspects are many, since all of Han-Yuan's prominent citizens were attending the party and most of them had a plausible reason for wishing this courtesan dead. Judge Dee has to sort through confusing clues and his task is made more complicated by the sudden disappearance of a new bride and her husband, the violent death of a local carpenter and the suspicions that Han-Yuan may be a center for political unrest! The judge is able to sort through all the confusion and the realization that these multiple crimes are all inter-connected, with his usual blend of wisdom and sagacity. Judge Dee is a very interesting character and the novel itself paints a wonderfully evocative picture of ancient China with its complicated rituals of love and marriage and precise social order that governed everyone's life. The mystery itself is interesting, though perhaps a little too twisty; however, the ending is genuinely powerful and completely plausible. A must-read for fans of the series!

Rating:
Summary: A brilliant way to learn about ancient China.
Review: This is only my second Judge Dee mystery, and although I can't compare it to others by the same author, I am definitely hooked on the series. Robert van Gulik offers a unique avenue into thinking about Tang dynasty China (7th century A.D.) and serves up wonderful escapist fiction at the same time. Judge Dee is a conscientious and clever magistrate faced with the brutal murder of a beautiful courtesan who has complicated political and economic connections. As Judge Dee goes about solving the crime, we learn about pleasure boats, prostitution, what people wore (and didn't wear), insurgencies against the empire, and the necessity of a pot of hot tea whenever the going gets rough. The author was a Dutch diplomat and scholar of Chinese jurisprudence whose mysteries are tailor-made for the historically and culturally curious.