The Red Pavilion

This Judge Dee mystery falls right in the middle of Van Gulik's canon, both from the chronology of Judge Dee's career and in the order of books written. Judge Dee is fully developed as a protagonist and at his most observant as a detective. However, only one of his retainers is with him in this book, the former robber and now his lieutenant MA Joong. A new reader of the Judge Dee mysteries might want to start with one of the earlier books to become familiar with Judge Dee and his world.

In The Red Pavilion Judge Dee is traveling back to his home province and breaks his journey on Paradise Island, a sort of medieval Chinese Las Vegas where every pleasure, from gambling to epicurean dinners to pleasures of the flesh, can be had for the show more right amount of money. Dee is roped into becoming a temporary magistrate of the court when his colleague, Magistrate LO Kwan-Choong, has to leave his province for a personal "emergency." He asks Dee to formally certify the suicide of a prominent scholar, merely a rubber-stamp case which just needs official verification at the next session of the court.

As in all of Dee's mysteries, this one innocuous case leads to an investigation and Dee ends up investigating not only the scholar's death, but also the death of the premier courtesan of Pleasure Island. Both deaths are linked to a murder committed thirty years ago. Using his vast knowledge of human nature and of the law, Dee is able to untangle the mysteries of the Red Pavilion where all three deaths occurred. While he gathers information from the upperclass residents and visitors to Paradise Island, his lieutenant frequents the gambling halls and brothels to get the street version of the three deaths.

The enjoyment of a Judge Dee mystery is not just in the puzzles which never fail to please, but also in the details of life in China during the seventh century. Van Gulik, a China scholar, goes into minute detail about everything from the different styles of beards worn by men to the execution of the swift and harsh justice of the courts. He sketches intricate maps of the locales, and includes illustrations of the characters in the style of the period. (A woman can be portrayed naked as long as her feet are not exposed. That would make the picture indecent, if not pornographic.)

Another very satisfying glimpse in the career of Judge Dee. show less

Judge Dee, magistrate of Poo-yang, eagerly heads home after an unpleasant hearing in the capital surrounding some chicanery and illicit sex at a Buddhist monastery in the earlier The Chinese Bell Murders. Dee finds himself unexpectedly thrust into the role of investigator into an alleged suicide in the pleasure district of Paradise Island in the neighboring district. Paradise Island served as the Las Vegas of its day, with plenty of gambling, drinking and prostitution. The contrast between the “anything-goes” attitude of the denizens of Paradise Island and the moralizing, strait-laced Judge Dee sets up quite a few amusing scenes.

Judge Lo Kwan-Choong, the magistrate of the neighboring district of Chin-hwa, returns to add comic spice show more to The Red Pavilion. He also provides the reason for Dee’s need to investigate in the first place. The womanizing sybarite Magistrate Lo first appeared in The Chinese Bell Murders, the second Judge Dee novel released in the United States (although not the second chronologically). As befits the irresponsible and careless Lo, he dashes off from Pleasure Island to the city of Chin-hwa to avoid some unpleasantness, and Lo asks Judge Dee to finish off the investigation into the suicide of a brilliant young scholar named Lee Lien, who had just been appointed a member of the Imperial Academy and had everything to live for. Author Robert van Gulik crafts The Red Pavilion as a locked-door mystery, which, at first, throws Judge Dee off the scent. It’s only after yet another murder that Dee realizes that Lee’s death was no suicide.

Although resentful at Lo’s fecklessness, the long-suffering, meticulous Dee ignores Lo’s suggestion that he just sign off on the suicide and looks into that matter. During the several days that Judge Dee and his trusty lieutenant Ma Joong investigate, they not only learn the truth about Lee’s death but also resolve the murder of the beautiful but cruel courtesan Autumn Moon and yet another murder committed 30 years earlier. In those two cases, the victims, like Lee, died behind locked doors inside the self-same Red Pavilion. Readers won’t guess the murderer until the penultimate chapter.

The Red Pavilion also shows a sweet side to the normally devil-may-care Ma Joong. To say anything more would spoil the novel.

For those new to the series, author Robert van Gulik, a Dutch diplomat, linguist and Asian scholar, relied on a real-life Chinese magistrate during the T'ang Dynasty named Ti Jen-chieh for his Judge Dee novels. Simplifying the magistrate's name to Judge Dee Jen-djieh, van Gulik first introduced the West to Judge Dee in Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee, first published in 1949 (although not translated into English until 1976). show less

Judge Dee stops off on the way back from the capital in Paradise Island, a resort town where fleecing the customer through gambling, prostitution, and drink is the main industry. Judge Dee is too upright for any of that, but his friend Magistrate Lo convinces him to stay an extra day to wrap up a routine suicide case. Dee is then confronted by three unexplained deaths over a period of 30 years in the same locked room, the Red Pavilion, the hotel room he is staying in. Science fiction writers can learn much from van Gulik who subtly fills you in on all the alien details of this distant time and place. Conrad is probably the winner when it comes to writing in English as a second language, but van Gulik holds his own. (Like Necklace and show more Calabash, the influence of Chandler can be seen, particularly in the great supporting characters of the Crab and the Shrimp.) show less

After The Haunted Monastery, this one is quite possibly my favorite.

We find our hero, Tang-dynasty magistrate Dee on the pleasure capital called Paradise Island, where, as usual, he must deal with murder & mayhem. As usual, one crime leads to the uncovering of others, and I love to watch the magistrate pick up and unravel every strand of mystery. It is also cool to read these stories & begin to get a bit of a feel for everyday life in ancient China.

#9 in the series, so don't start with this one. Start with the first one. Recommended for people who want something different in their mystery reading; also, I think anyone who likes historical mystery should enjoy this series as well.

Predictable, but a great read nonetheless.

VanGulik's detective is sensitive and sensuous - and he always finds the truth no matter how difficult.

Top rate Robert Van Gulik.