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rhoelle's review against another edition
5.0
Author van Gulik claims that Judge Dee (more properly, Ti) here solves three cases, but in reality it is more like six (all interconnected in a single narrative) as the Judge arrives to restore order to a town gone almost as wild as Personville in Hammett's Red Harvest. This tale is also set in Lan-Fang and the fact that it borders Uighur tribes who may at any moment attack is an important dimension. Although set in the late T'ang Dynasty period, van Gulik admits that the depiction of life is based on the later Ming Dynasty era.
bioniclib's review against another edition
4.0
The Dutch Ambassador to Japan created a fictionalized version of an historical Chinese Magistrate. It was interesting (and entertaining) to see an Eastern take on the Detective genre. A few items of note:
First, Judge Dee wasn't an omniscient detective and admits when others have good ideas or when he makes mistakes. Not always the case with Western Detectives.
Chinese culture was violent! Dee thinks nothing of having his bailiffs pull off a person being questioned's robe and whipping them. They're also racist, which I think most cultures are.
The culture sees Sapphism (aka lesbianism) as a degenerate condition. Ouch.
Those last two points are just warnings. The story is pretty damn good but with any older books, the ignorance and superiority complexes shine through and make it a tougher read.
First, Judge Dee wasn't an omniscient detective and admits when others have good ideas or when he makes mistakes. Not always the case with Western Detectives.
Chinese culture was violent! Dee thinks nothing of having his bailiffs pull off a person being questioned's robe and whipping them. They're also racist, which I think most cultures are.
Spoiler
This is uncomfortably on display when Anuigar the "stupid barbarian" has his leg broken in multiple places and just generally tortured until he gave up the names of Chinese traitors.The culture sees Sapphism (aka lesbianism) as a degenerate condition. Ouch.
Those last two points are just warnings. The story is pretty damn good but with any older books, the ignorance and superiority complexes shine through and make it a tougher read.
bookwomble's review against another edition
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Death, Torture, Kidnapping, Murder, Lesbophobia, War, and Injury/Injury detail
gossamerwingedgazelle's review against another edition
4.0
Good mysteries, fascinating history, and a really nice format. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes mysteries or Chinese history.
amigo_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
paul_cornelius's review against another edition
5.0
Coming after his first Judge Dee novel, Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee, which was a translation of earlier Chinese stories, this novel, The Chinese Maze Murders, was van Gulik's first effort to establish his own fictional world for Judge Dee. (In terms of the chronology of the entire series, Maze Murders fits in at 13th place.) It shows in its resemblances to the first book. It's much more methodical, longer, involved, infused with Chinese cultural practices, and reliant on a more formalized and somewhat distant language. The very passages and dialog seem to exude antiquity. I find all this pleasant. Would that van Gulik had continued with this style of writing, because I would have preferred it over his later versions of Dee, whose voice slipped into a more slangy air and at times verges on being hardboiled.
Three crimes form the core of the tale, all of them leading to murder. But Dee also finds himself involved in a military defense of this new province in which he has taken up duty as magistrate, Lan-Fang, on the northwestern edge of China. Not only does he uncover corruption, adulterous liaisons leading to patricide, and a secret cabal planning to betray the empire, he also reveals a murderess "taking advantage of young girls." Things resolve themselves in the end with a graphic description of public executions. For something written in 1950 and first published in Japanese in 1951, this is pretty risque material. I do think many contemporary readers will be impatient with it, however. But for those willing to indulge in van Gulik's very thorough view of 7th century Tang China, it's a rewarding experience.
Three crimes form the core of the tale, all of them leading to murder. But Dee also finds himself involved in a military defense of this new province in which he has taken up duty as magistrate, Lan-Fang, on the northwestern edge of China. Not only does he uncover corruption, adulterous liaisons leading to patricide, and a secret cabal planning to betray the empire, he also reveals a murderess "taking advantage of young girls." Things resolve themselves in the end with a graphic description of public executions. For something written in 1950 and first published in Japanese in 1951, this is pretty risque material. I do think many contemporary readers will be impatient with it, however. But for those willing to indulge in van Gulik's very thorough view of 7th century Tang China, it's a rewarding experience.
boringalien's review against another edition
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Lesbophobia
geoffreyjen's review against another edition
5.0
Love these books, this one was especially good. Van Gulik pays a historian's attention to details about ancient China. I return time and again to reread these books, they are both intelligent and sensual as well as rich with historical detail.
jmeston's review against another edition
2.0
Only so-so but it has the glow of quasi believable antiquity. I read the introduction and totally didn't believe it. Chinese detective stories from the 1600s?! I'm still not quite clear on the source materials. It all reminds me of many movies set in ancient China. The text is pretty turgid, my husband finds it ideal as a going to sleep book.