A review by naverhtrad
The Haunted Monastery by Robert van Gulik
5.0
In the mountains above Hanyuan, Judge Dee has been caught together with Tao Gan and his three wives in the middle of a thunderstorm. They must take refuge at the Daoist monastery Chaoyunguan, where during the Northern Wei dynasty a peasant revolt was violently quelled, and where more recently three young girls have died mysterious and unexplained deaths. In addition, Judge Dee begins seeing ghostly apparitions and hearing strange whispers in the monastery halls. In spite of these hauntings and in spite of suffering a miserable head-cold, Judge Dee begins investigating these three deaths and soon finds himself hot on the trail of an utterly ruthless, amoral killer.
Van Gulik rather played up Di Renjie's antipathy toward Daoism in this novel, though that's partly explained by his ill temper at being caught sick in a rainstorm. Even so, some of the philosophical differences between Daoism and Confucianism are explored, and the book touches on one of the common complaints against Daoism during times of its unpopularity. Van Gulik does a superb job with this novel, though, in restricting it to a closed setting and removing many of Judge Dee's usual tricks - such as going incognito and assigning his assistants to follow and observe suspects. He does a wonderful job of mounting tension as the Judge finds himself having to outwit the killer, before he manages to kill another unfortunate young woman.
And even though the setting is in a monastery, van Gulik's beloved criminal underworld and the seamier side of the Chinese Old Society still manage to make themselves felt. Vagrant Daoist monks and procurers are among the splendidly-colourful cast. Interestingly enough, the 'low-class' acting troupe led by Guan Lai are treated with a very high level of respect by Judge Dee, and deservedly so: the actress Ding Xiang turns out to be a remarkably able and quick-witted temporary assistant for the Judge. In addition, the Judge rather reluctantly enlists the help of the heavy-drinking young poet Zong Li, who is wooing with his doggerel a young novitiate nun named Bai Meigui, to investigate the three murders.
The former abbot of the monastery, Yuguan, had recently peacefully reposed after having delivered a profound and subtle sermon on Daoist doctrine, but Zong Li still suspects foul play on the part of his then-prior, the current abbot Zhenzhi. One of the actresses, surnamed Ouyang, has an unexplained connexion with Bai Meigui. And one of her fellow-actors, Mo Mo, has a nasty habit of disappearing and reappearing at whim. Judge Dee has to solve a number of these riddles involving secret passages and locks, paintings with hidden meanings and a 'gallery of horrors' whose horrors turn out to be all-too-real.
Robert van Gulik sticks a bit loosely in this case to his gong'an formula involving multiple cases to be solved simultaneously, and the minor characters in this one on the whole end up much more happily than they do in his other books. (At one point Judge Dee even remarks that he should retire from being a magistrate and set up shop as a professional matchmaker.) At the same time, a bit of van Gulik's later cynicism about the inner workings of the Old Society at its highest levels begins to creep in, and Judge Dee's faith in earthly justice gets a pretty bad shake. I appreciate in this particular novel that van Gulik gives his usual formula an interesting twist and delivers a highly-enjoyable, fast-paced murder mystery.
Van Gulik rather played up Di Renjie's antipathy toward Daoism in this novel, though that's partly explained by his ill temper at being caught sick in a rainstorm. Even so, some of the philosophical differences between Daoism and Confucianism are explored, and the book touches on one of the common complaints against Daoism during times of its unpopularity. Van Gulik does a superb job with this novel, though, in restricting it to a closed setting and removing many of Judge Dee's usual tricks - such as going incognito and assigning his assistants to follow and observe suspects. He does a wonderful job of mounting tension as the Judge finds himself having to outwit the killer, before he manages to kill another unfortunate young woman.
And even though the setting is in a monastery, van Gulik's beloved criminal underworld and the seamier side of the Chinese Old Society still manage to make themselves felt. Vagrant Daoist monks and procurers are among the splendidly-colourful cast. Interestingly enough, the 'low-class' acting troupe led by Guan Lai are treated with a very high level of respect by Judge Dee, and deservedly so: the actress Ding Xiang turns out to be a remarkably able and quick-witted temporary assistant for the Judge. In addition, the Judge rather reluctantly enlists the help of the heavy-drinking young poet Zong Li, who is wooing with his doggerel a young novitiate nun named Bai Meigui, to investigate the three murders.
The former abbot of the monastery, Yuguan, had recently peacefully reposed after having delivered a profound and subtle sermon on Daoist doctrine, but Zong Li still suspects foul play on the part of his then-prior, the current abbot Zhenzhi. One of the actresses, surnamed Ouyang, has an unexplained connexion with Bai Meigui. And one of her fellow-actors, Mo Mo, has a nasty habit of disappearing and reappearing at whim. Judge Dee has to solve a number of these riddles involving secret passages and locks, paintings with hidden meanings and a 'gallery of horrors' whose horrors turn out to be all-too-real.
Robert van Gulik sticks a bit loosely in this case to his gong'an formula involving multiple cases to be solved simultaneously, and the minor characters in this one on the whole end up much more happily than they do in his other books. (At one point Judge Dee even remarks that he should retire from being a magistrate and set up shop as a professional matchmaker.) At the same time, a bit of van Gulik's later cynicism about the inner workings of the Old Society at its highest levels begins to creep in, and Judge Dee's faith in earthly justice gets a pretty bad shake. I appreciate in this particular novel that van Gulik gives his usual formula an interesting twist and delivers a highly-enjoyable, fast-paced murder mystery.