20. The Chinese Lake Murders by Robert van Gulik (Historical Mystery) 204 p.
This is my second experience with a Judge Dee Mystery, and if anything, it was even better than the first. I’m still intrigued by the details of life in Tang-dynasty China, and The Chinese Lake Murders contains three very good mysteries for the judge to solve.
Although this book was written after The Chinese Bell Murders, it’s actually set earlier, during one of Judge Dee’s earlier appointments. It is A.D. 666, and Judge Dee is the new magistrate of Han-yuan. Although near to the capital, the town geography isolates it, so that few newcomers ever settle there or pass through the town.
The sinister atmosphere of the place is heightened by the presence of a mysterious lake. The bodies of those who drown in it are never found. However, at a party on a flower boat, a banquet given in honour of Judge Dee, a drowned body is found—that of a young courtesan, Almond Blossom, who only minutes earlier had danced for the guests.
Judge Dee has only just began to investigate the murder of Almond Blossom, when an even more puzzling crime comes to light. The case of a young bride found dead on the day after her wedding takes a strange turn when first the groom, and then the bride’s corpse, both disappear, and the murdered body of a poor carpenter turns up in the bride’s coffin.
Robert van Gulik never ventures into the private lives of any of his characters, which is a shame, because I would have liked to see Judge Dee’s home life. I still enjoyed The Chinese Lake Murders quite a bit, though!
Pages read: 6,198
