A review by paul_cornelius
The Haunted Monastery by Robert van Gulik

4.0

One surprise development in The Haunted Monastery did shock me. I didn't see it coming. Alas, I risk spoiling the story should I say much more. Otherwise, the crime and investigation develops like most other Judge Dee stories. It's usually clear to the reader who the main villain is far before Dee himself realizes the identity of the killer/fraudster/thief/liar. The interest, however, is in watching Dee operate. And in observing the development of his character. In this story, there is a major development. In earlier books, I've seen Dee give way from being a dispassionate, calculating, and unrelenting arm of the law to a man easily frustrated and upset at his own limitations. He continues along those lines in Haunted Monastery. Here, in fact, he reaches a point of no return. I don't think it spoils anything to say that Judge Dee commits premeditated murder. And Van Gulik only tries half-heartedly to defend him from it. This type development is what makes these Judge Dee mysteries so interesting. Van Gulik even supplies a philosophic discussion surrounding the issue, introducing his own distrust of Taoism (which pairs with his earlier proclamations against Buddhism in other Judge Dee tales) and his rather rigid defense of Confucianism. This is a novel in which Van Gulik tells us as much about himself as he does about Dee.