Murder in Canton - (Judge Dee Mystery) by Robert Van Gulik (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A delightfully complicated mystery that could only be unraveled by the beloved detective Judge Dee, whom the Los Angeles Times ranked with Sherlock Holmes

Murder in Canton takes place in the year 680, as Judge Dee, recently promoted to lord chief justice, is sent incognito to Canton to investigate the disappearance of a court censor. With the help of his trusted lieutenants Chiao Tai and Tao Gan, and that of a clever blind girl who collects crickets, Dee solves a complex puzzle of political intrigue and murder through the three separate subplots "the vanished censor," "the Smaragdine dancer," and "the Golden Bell."

From the Back Cover

Murder in Canton takes place in 680 A.D. Judge Dee, recently promoted to Lord Chief Justice, is sent incognito to Canton to investigate the disappearance of a court censor. With the help of his trusted lieutenants Chiao Tai and Tao Gan, and that of a clever blind girl who collects crickets, Dee solves the traditional three puzzles - "The Vanished Censor, The Smaragdine Dancer, and The Golden Bell".

Review Quotes

"Entertaining, instructive and oddly impressive. Judge Dee, the officers of his tribunal and the people with whom he and they are concerned are interesting folk, and the world of crime, mystery, violence, lust, corruption and ceremony in which they move is formidably picturesque."-- "Times Literary Supplement"

"Judge Dee belongs in that select group of fictional detectives headed by the renowned Sherlock Holmes. I assure you it is a compliment not given frivolously."

--Robert Kirsch "Los Angeles Times"

"The China of old, in Mr. van Gulik's skilled hands, comes vividly alive again."--Allen J. Hubin "New York Times Book Review"

About the Author

Robert Van Gulik (1910-67) was a Dutch diplomat and an authority on Chinese history and culture. He drew his plots from the whole body of Chinese literature, especially from the popular detective novels that first appeared in the seventeenth century.