Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee

I enjoyed this immensely, both the novel itself as well as the translator's notes in the preface and the afterward. I think it's important to understand the context of Chinese detective novels, because there are some elements (ghosts/dreams used as evidence; the torture for confessions) that are completely unbelievable for the Western reader but are par for the course in their original culture. I found this very fascinating and I think it really added to my enjoyment of the novel, without fifteen million footnotes explaining everything along the way.

In the afterward, the translator, van Gulik, mused that perhaps a modern day detective novelist should try writing a Chinese-style detective story, and I'm going to guess he decided to do show more that himself, considering the number of books he added to this series LOL.

The novel itself concerns the tribunal overseen by Judge Dee, a magistrate in Tang dynasty China, and the cases that are brought before him. There are 3 cases presented here, one right after the other, so that at one point 3 separate investigations are going on. It's messy in a realistic way and shows how the characters are stretched between their different duties. Dee even puts his career (and perhaps his life) on the line in pursuit of justice in one case: the ancient Chinese penal code was brutal for everyone who came into contact with it, apparently. The cases are varied and interesting (the murder of a silk merchant, the death of a bride on her wedding night, a shopkeeper's death that is basically covered up and only discovered a year after the fact), and the investigations equally so. If you enjoy historical procedurals, or series like Li Du, I think you'd like this one, too. I am definitely putting this book on my list of ones to buy, because the notes alone interest me that much! I can't wait to read more of these, and am so glad one of the libraries in our system has copies in the stacks ♥ show less

A translation of an 18th century Chinese novel about a 7th century judge-detective. He was a real person, but as far as we know the cases presented here are fictitious.

Historical mysteries are one of my favourite genres, so I was naturally intrigued by the idea of a historical mystery written 200-odd years ago in China, long before the genre existed in the West. The three investigations are unconnected apart from Judge Dee working on them at the same time. The translator (from 1947) tries to draw parallels with Sherlock Holmes but the novel is more like what we would now call a police procedural - even if the procedure does include dreams, what I think is the I Ching, and the torturing of suspects.

I enjoyed this look into a different show more way of going about an investigation, and I will probably read the others in the series. In the rest of the series Van Gulik is described as author rather than translator so I'm not sure how much they owe to Chinese sources. show less

A fascinating glimpse into life in 7th century CE China, translated in the 1940s from a 19th century Chinese manuscript that appears to preserve a genuine account of investigations undertaken by the magistrate of a small city.

Judge Dee is insightful, ethically scrupulous and morally strict, slightly softened by compassion. However, in the context of his culture, the use of torture, graphically described, is a legitimate judicial tool. I found these sections uncomfortable reading, but I guess that readers who enjoy "torture porn" movies might get a kick from these sections.

The current (2024) Netflix series excludes torture, but includes a few fight scenes, which I had thought was pandering to the modern vogue for adding martial arts to show more spice up the action, and was pleasantly surprised to read a few examples of Judge Dee's lieutenants exhibiting their "Chinese boxing and wrestling".

I really enjoyed this, and will continue with van Gulik's self-penned sequels. show less

In this book, Judge Dee handles three cases. In the first, two traveling silk merchants stay at a hostel and are later found murdered. The hostel owner is accused of robbing and killing them, although it's immediately clear to Judge Dee that there's more to the case than that. In the second, Judge Dee listens to an old woman's story about her son's death and her daughter-in-law's strange behavior in the period since then. He immediately suspects that the son was poisoned and that his wife had something to do with it. But can he get her to confess? The third case involves a beautiful young bride who may have been poisoned by a jealous scholar.

Although van Gulik explained in his notes that, contrary to modern Western mystery readers' show more expectations, Judge Dee would be handling these cases simultaneously, I didn't initially understand what that meant. I figured that it would be like mystery novels where one mystery takes precedence but little ones crop up in the middle for a bit of variety. Or perhaps it would be more like a short story anthology, with each story stitched together with transitional scenes in which criminals were punished or Judge Dee got caught up on his paperwork.

Instead, Judge Dee went hunting for clues/information about the double murder and accidentally stumbled across another mystery. He couldn't just ignore it, so he started investigating that one too. And, although a single symbolism-filled dream gave Judge Dee hints for all three cases, none of the cases were related in any way. It was definitely different from what I'm used to in my mystery reading, but not in a bad way.

All right, backing up a bit: I originally bought this during a used book shopping trip because I remembered watching and enjoying Detective Dee and the Phantom Flame. It was way more action-packed than this book, and I don't recall the movie's Detective Dee ever torturing anyone the way Judge Dee did, but I might have blocked that out. Still, despite the differences, I'm glad the movie got me to try this book.

While I probably would have found the mysteries interesting without van Gulik's notes, there are several aspects of the book that likely would have taken me aback without the context that he provided. The torture, for one thing, as well as the way some of the final sentencing was carried out. There was also a bit of an edutainment factor - van Gulik's analysis of the legal aspects of the book was fascinating, and I'm looking forward to eventually reading the original Judge Dee books he wrote after translating this book.

I was somewhat worried that this would be a dry read, but thankfully that turned out not to be the case, and van Gulik's notes added another level to my enjoyment. Although this can't quite be read with the same expectations one might have for a modern Western mystery - it was a shock when, before even seeing the crime scene, Judge Dee had a warden beaten for the way he'd handled the investigation's initial steps, and I winced at the part where Judge Dee decided to forgo an autopsy on a poisoning victim because the victim's family was so scholarly and respectable - it wasn't as far outside modern mystery expectations as I thought it might be. There were even a few nice humorous bits here and there (or at least humorous to me). I got a kick out of the false name Judge Dee chose for himself at one point in the story, as well as Ma Joong (one of Judge Dee's lieutenants) excitement at getting to play the part of a thief.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

The first thing about this fascinating, antique detective story is that it has a helpful, illuminating afterword that I think it best heard before the story itself.

Then, this 18th Century tale written about a real, early 8th Century "judge" is a taut and engaging crime novel. Such a Chinese judge is investigator (detective), prosecutor, and judge who has martial arts skills and deeply analytical intelligence. Like a steampunk vision may mix fantastic elements to period ones, this set of three interlocked cases involves scientific forensics, autopsies, interrogations and other classic crime story elements with spirits, book cleromancy and more in a milieu of rigid protocols and deference.

I read long ago a couple of the modern Judge Dee books on the unlikely recommedation of a Chinese philophy professor but didn't know till recently of this much earlier one.

Yes it is as other posters have said of cultural & historical interest--and van Gulik's notes add to that interest--but it's foremost an absorbing story. I was caught up in it and that's more than I can say of books by the likes of Sayers and Christie. I might re-read the modern Judge Dee tales in hopes that they'll seem just as good.

Enjoyable as a mystery novel, but mostly interesting to me for all the knowledge it provides on daily life, society, government, and law in Tang China.