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A review by yorugua1891
Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee (Dee Goong An) by
4.0
Looking for a different mystery? You have found it!
I have read my fair share of mysteries, and even though I love the genre, sometimes I feel the need to look for something out of the norm. That is why I have explore mysteries in special locations or times. In one of these searches I came across this book and decided to give it a try. The first thing that struck me was the extensive introduction by the translator, Robert van Gulik. In this essay, he explains the characteristics of the typical Chinese mystery and points out how the one we are about to read is a blend of this type of book and the occidental mysteries we are used to reading. You can tell right away the passion van Gulik has for this work and it's particularities, and this passion led him to write a series based on this book using Judge Dee as the main character.
The book takes us on a fascinating journey, in which we follow Judge Dee as he investigates and tries 3 different murders. This is one of the traits of Chinese mysteries, the judge is in charge of collecting evidence and evaluating it, finding the culprit, arrest the person, make him or her confess (very important step of the process) and deciding on the punishment as well as administering it. There is a fair amount of torture on the court too, which is used to reach the confession, and is really a shocking part of these stories, especially when the person being tortures may not be guilty.
Overall, I found reading this book to be a pleasant and entertaining experience. The cultural elements at play were mesmerizing, and the only weak point was the minor appearance of supernatural elements. I cannot really overly fault the novel for this though, because in Chinese mysteries these supernatural elements play a more prominent role. I have to say that my interest was piqued and that after reading this anonymous work translated by van Gulik, I have decided to go look for the Judge Dee series the translator worked on, and which starts with The Chinese Maze Murders: A Judge Dee Mystery.
I have read my fair share of mysteries, and even though I love the genre, sometimes I feel the need to look for something out of the norm. That is why I have explore mysteries in special locations or times. In one of these searches I came across this book and decided to give it a try. The first thing that struck me was the extensive introduction by the translator, Robert van Gulik. In this essay, he explains the characteristics of the typical Chinese mystery and points out how the one we are about to read is a blend of this type of book and the occidental mysteries we are used to reading. You can tell right away the passion van Gulik has for this work and it's particularities, and this passion led him to write a series based on this book using Judge Dee as the main character.
The book takes us on a fascinating journey, in which we follow Judge Dee as he investigates and tries 3 different murders. This is one of the traits of Chinese mysteries, the judge is in charge of collecting evidence and evaluating it, finding the culprit, arrest the person, make him or her confess (very important step of the process) and deciding on the punishment as well as administering it. There is a fair amount of torture on the court too, which is used to reach the confession, and is really a shocking part of these stories, especially when the person being tortures may not be guilty.
Overall, I found reading this book to be a pleasant and entertaining experience. The cultural elements at play were mesmerizing, and the only weak point was the minor appearance of supernatural elements. I cannot really overly fault the novel for this though, because in Chinese mysteries these supernatural elements play a more prominent role. I have to say that my interest was piqued and that after reading this anonymous work translated by van Gulik, I have decided to go look for the Judge Dee series the translator worked on, and which starts with The Chinese Maze Murders: A Judge Dee Mystery.