Judge Dee presided over his Imperial Chinese court with a unique brand of Confucian justice. A near-mythic figure in China, he distinguished himself as a tribunal magistrate, inquisitor, and public avenger. Long after his death, accounts of his exploits were celebrated in Chinese folklore and later immortalized by Robert van Gulik in his electrifying mysteries. These lively and historically accurate tales, written by a Dutch diplomat and scholar during the 1950s and '60s and brought back into print to critical acclaim in the 1990s, have entertained a devoted following around the world. Van Gulik's Judge Dee stories often based on actual cases and illustrated with the author's charming line drawings, offer vivid insight into life in traditional China. Poisoned plums, a cryptic scroll picture, passionate love letters, and a hidden murderer with a penchant for torturing and killing women lead Judge Dee to the heart of the Governor's garden maze and the answers to three interwoven mysteries.
"The Chinese Maze Murders" represents Robert van Gulik's first venture into writing suspense novels after the success of Dee Gong An, his translation of an anonymous Chinese detective novel from the sixteenth century.
- ISBN10 0747401772
- ISBN13 9780747401773
- Publish Date 1 December 1988 (first published January 1969)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 30 December 2009
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
- Imprint Time Warner Paperbacks
- Edition New edition
- Format Paperback (A-Format (178x111 mm))
- Pages 303
- Language English