The Judge Dee Novels of R.H. van Gulik
Page 20
Reviews
Anthony Boucher offered The Phantom of the Temple his usual praise: “All highly colorful material and admirably fitted together” (“Criminals At Large,” New York Times 12 March 1967: 25). The English reviewer in the Times Literary Supplement expressed relief that van Gulik’s depiction of sexual matters had been tamed: “In this latest the over obtrusive sex that has marred many recent ones has been toned down” (“Criminuscule,” Times Literary Supplement 21 July 1966: 640).
14. Judge Dee at Work
(8 short stories)
Collecting the eight Judge Dee stories into a single volume enabled van Gulik to cement the career of Judge Dee into a coherent sequence. Each of the stories is precisely set in one of the stages of Judge Dee’s career: three stories take place at his first posting, Peng-lai; the fourth takes place at Han-yuan (2nd); the fifth and sixth take place at Poo-yang (3rd); the seventh and eighth at Lan Fang (4th). Moreover, the stories are set precisely in chronology: “Five Auspicious Clouds” one week after Judge Dee’s arrival in Peng-lai; “The Red Tape Murder” is set six weeks later; “He Came with the Rain” is set six months after that.
In 1961, van Gulik published a volume of Judge Dee stories in Dutch, Zes Zaken voor Rechter Tie. It contained six of the eight stories printed in Judge Dee at Work: “The Red Tape Murder,” “The Murder on the Lotus Pond,” “The Two Beggars,” “The Wrong Sword,” “The Coffins of the Emperor,” and “Murder on New Year’s Eve.” “Five Auspicious Clouds” and “He Came with the Rain” were not apparently included until Judge Dee at Work was published in 1967.
a. “Five Auspicious Clouds”
Scene: Peng-lai, Judge Dee’s 1st posting
The Magistrate’s Lieutenants: Hoong Liang, Ma Joong, Chaio Tai
The Cast:
Yee Pen, a wealthy shipowner (The Chinese Gold Murders)
Hwa Min, a wealthy shipowner
Ho, a retired secretary of the Minister of Justice
Mrs. Ho, wife of Ho
Fung, a poor painter
Victim: Mrs. Ho
Villain’s motive: emotional jealousy
Mrs. Ho is found hanging in her garden pavilion, an apparent suicide. Evidence however suggests she has been murdered, and an incense clock seems to indicate the crime took place at 4:30. Fung, who has been seen in Mrs. Ho’s company, was in the vicinity at the time, and is arrested. Judge Dee re-evaluates the evidence and identifies the murderer.
“Moral Standards”
Judge Dee properly disapproves of Fung’s secret meetings with Mrs. Ho. Even if, as seems certain, their relationship was purely platonic, good wives do not meet privately with good men. Nonetheless, at the story’s end, Judge Dee makes the gratuitous gesture of ameliorating Fung’s poverty, securing the poor painter a fixed set of commissions: “Disapproval of a man’s moral standards is no reason for one to allow him to die in misery” (19).
b. “The Red Tape Murder”
Scene: Military fort on the river near Peng-lai, Judge Dee’s 1st posting
The Magistrate’s Lieutenants: Ma Joong, Chaio Tai
The Cast:
Commander Fang, in charge of the fort
Colonel Soo, Vice Commander of the fort
Colonel Meng Kwo-tai, and champion archer
Colonel Shih Lang, martinet
Colonel Mao, chief of the military police
Pak, a Korean merchant
Yee, another Korean merchant
Victim: Colonel Soo
Villain’s motive: concealment of a venal crime
Troubled by a misplaced document in his office’s archive, Judge Dee agrees to visit the fort to see if there is any reason to intervene in the case of Ma Joong’s and Chaio Tai’s drinking companion, Colonel Meng, who has been convicted of murdering Colonel Soo. Solving the problem of the misplaced document helps Judge Dee solve the problem of the murder of Colonel Soo.
c. “He Came with the Rain”
Scene: Peng-lai, Judge Dee’s 1st posting
The Magistrate’s Lieutenant: Hoong Liang
The Cast:
Choong Fang, a wealthy pawnbroker
Mr. Lin, Choong Fang’s partner
Oriole, a deaf-mute girl, living alone in an abandoned tower
Wang San-lang, a young fisherman
Victim: Choong Fang
Villain’s motive: greed
The body of Choong Fang is discovered in the abandoned tower inhabited by Oriole. The military police apprehend Wang as he is washing blood from his clothing. After questioning Oriole and Mr. Lin and examining Choong Fang’s library, Judge Dee discovers the true villain.
Rain Spirits
Oriole cannot speak, but with her limited ability to write, she blames the murder on “bad goblins” who changed the benevolent “rain spirit” into the corpse of the dead Choong Fang. Judge Dee realizes that both she and Wang believe in rain spirits, and that Wang’s realization that Choong was not a genuine rain spirit explains some of the circumstances in which the body was found. When dealing with Wang, the judge therefore acts with sentimental mercy rather than rigor.
The Third Lady
Van Gulik uses this story to account for Judge Dee making Miss Tsao his third wife. After being raped and then repudiated by her husband and her father in The Chinese Gold Murders, Miss Tsao had entered his service as a companion to his First Lady. She has been in his service seven months, and now, at the suggestion of the First Lady, Judge Dee agrees to take Miss Tsao as his third wife.
d. “Murder on Lotus Pond”
Scene: Han-yuan, Judge Dee’s 2nd posting
The Magistrate’s Lieutenants: Ma Joong
The Cast:
Meng Lan, a sixty-year-old old poet
Shih Mei-lan, young wife of Meng Lan and a former courtesan
Shih Ming, her younger brother, a drinker and a gambler
Yuan Kai, a wealthy pharmacist
Wen Shou-fang, master of the tea-merchant’s guild
Victim: Meng Lan
Villain’s motive: greed, self-protection
Meng Lan’s body is discovered in his garden pavilion. Suspicion is immediately attached to his young wife, the former courtesan named Agate. Yuan Kai and Wen Shou-fang confess to being former admirers of Agate. In discovering who killed the poet, Judge Dee also discovers the identity of the person who plotted to rob an imperial treasury messenger of a dozen gold bars.
Plot
As in The Willow Pattern and The Phantom of the Temple, Van Gulik employs the device of depicting the murder in the first pages, during which an important clue is presented. And as in “He Came with the Rain,” he ends the story with a sentimental union of two characters.
e. “Two Beggars”
Scene: Poo-yang, Judge Dee’s 3rd posting
The Magistrate’s Lieutenants: Hoong Liang
The Cast:
Ling, master of the goldsmith’s guild
Wang, tutor to Ling’s grandsons
Mrs. Kwang, mistress of a “high-class” brothel
Miss Liang, a “high-class” courtesan, known as Rosedew
Lo Kwan-choong, Magistrate of Chin-hwa
Sheng Pa, King of the Beggars
Victim: Wang
Villain’s motive: self-protection
The body of Wang, disguised in the clothing of a beggar, is discovered at the bottom of a deep drain. Judge Dee’s investigation leads him first to Ling, then to Mrs. Kwang, then to Miss Liang. Judge Dee saves Magistrate Lo from an unwise attachment.
Judge Dee’s Children
The story mentions the Judge’s three small sons, identifying one of the younger sons as “Ah-keui.” One daughter, “Big Sister,” is also mentioned.
f. “Wrong Sword”
Scene: Poo-yang, Judge Dee’s 3rd posting
The Magistrate’s Lieutenants: Ma Joong, Chaio Tai
The Cast:
Bao, head of a troupe of travelling acrobats/actors
Mrs. Bao, his wife
Miss Bao, th
eir daughter
Young Bao, Mrs. Bao’s son
Lau, a rice merchant
Hoo Ta-ma, a vagabond
Sheng Pa, King of the Beggars
Victim: Young Bao
Villain’s motive: Concealment of a sexual affair
Ma Joong and Chaio Tai are watching the acrobatic show when Bao thrusts a sword through the chest of his wife’s son. The trick sword has been replaced with a real sword. Chaio Tai arrests Hoo Ta-ma. Judge Dee reviews the case, developing arguments for the guilt of Bao, Lau, and Mrs. Bao. He has all of the principals brought before him and uses a stratagem to elicit a confession from the villain.
g. “Coffins of the Emperor”
Scene: Ta-shih-ku, a border district near Lan-fang, Judge Dee’s 4th assignment
The Magistrate’s Lieutenants: Hoong Liang, Ma Joong, Chaio Tai
The Cast:
Judge Kwang, magistrate of Ta-shih-ku
Jasmine, a prostitute
Captain Woo, serving in the garrison at Ta-shih-ku
Captain Pan, serving in the garrison at Ta-shih-ku
Mrs. Pan, wife of Captain Pan
The Marshall, commanding the imperial army facing the advancing Tartars
General Lew, commander of the army’s left wing
General Sang, commander of the army’s right wing
General Mao, commander of the military police
Victim: Mrs. Pan
Villain’s motive: sexual frustration
Visiting Ta-shih-ku during a military emergency, Judge Dee encounters two problems. The first is the murder of Mrs. Pan. A military court had convicted Capt. Woo of the crime one year ago, and he is not set for execution. The mother of his child, Jasmine, believes he is innocent, and Judge Dee visits the Marshall’s headquarters to question the conviction. While he is there, the Marshall informs him that the fate of the empire depends on which of his two Generals he can trust. General Sang has accused General Lew of conspiring with the invading Tartars. The crucial evidence is alleged to be contained within the coffin of the Emperor’s eldest son. The identical coffins of the son and his wife must remain unviolated. Judge Dee proposes a way to determine whether the Crown Prince’s coffin has been tampered with. He then demands that the Marshall review the case of Capt. Woo, and demonstrates that Woo was not the villain.
Tartars
The theme of an outsider (barbarian) threat to the Empire, which had been raised in several novels—The Chinese Maze Murders (Uigers), The Chinese Lake Murders (Tartars), The Chinese Gold Murders (Koreans) and Murder in Canton (Arabs)—reaches a fever pitch in “The Coffins of the Emperor.” The Marshall is in command of some 165,000 troops sent to the frigid frontier to repel a major invasion of Tartar forces. Judge Dee is in Ta-shih-ku in order to advise the Marshall about the possibility that the Uigers living near Dee’s district of Lan-fang might ally themselves with the invaders.
Homosexuality
In The Chinese Gold Murders, Judge Dee had comforted a bereft homosexual (Tang, the senior scribe, whose beloved Fan Choong had been murdered). In “The Coffins of the Emperor,” a homosexual forced into a marriage by his father and spurned by a comrade whom he desires, murders his wife and frames his comrade. Exposed by Judge Dee, he is asked by his superior whether he can die like an officer; he cries, “Long live the Emperor!” and slashes his own throat.
h. “Murder on New Year’s Eve”
Scene: Lan-fang, Judge Dee’s 4th assignment
The Magistrate’s Lieutenants: none
The Cast:
Wang, a peddler
Mrs. Wang, his wife
Hsia-pao, Wang’s son
Shen, a pawnbroker
Liu, a tailor
Victim: Mrs. Wang? Shen?
Villain’s motive: none
When Hsia-pao calls the constables to his parents’ tenement after hearing them fighting with each other, Judge Dee discovers a bloody chopper. He first suspects that Wang has murdered his wife; then, when he encounters Mrs. Wang, he suspects Wang has killed the pawnbroker Shen. When Wang returns, he realizes the truth.
A note on publication
“Murder on New Year’s Eve” was first published as “New Year’s Eve in Lan-Fang” in 1958 (between publication of The Chinese Maze Murders and The Chinese Bell Murders). Van Gulik had it printed in Beirut as a 32-page booklet (Imprimerie Catholique), and distributed it to friends and associates as a New Year’s gift.
Happy Ending
“Murder on New Year’s Eve” has this resemblance to Conan Doyle’s “Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle”: both authors wrote a holiday detective story with no crime, or, at least, no punishment of a crime. In “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle,” Holmes makes the Christmas gesture of releasing the pathetic thief who stole the stone in a “Go, and sin no more” gesture. New Year’s is the comparable Chinese holiday, and “Murder on New Year’s Eve,” which seemed to involve a bloody homicide that will destroy little Hsia-pao’s family, concludes with Judge Dee discovering that no one has been murdered. As firecrackers celebrate the arrival of the new year, Judge Dee sees Hsia-pao is smiling up at his mother and father, and wishes them all “Happy New Year!”
New Directions: Necklace and Calabash and Poets and Murder
In a 1966 letter to his American editor at Scribner, Harry Brague, van Gulik announced that following the publication of his two most recent novels The Phantom of the Temple, Murder in Canton, and the short story collection, Judge Dee at Work, he planned to inaugurate a new line of Judge Dee novels: “then we’ll start on a new Judge Dee series, the first volume of which—NECKLACE AND CALABASH—has already been accepted by Heinemann. In the novels of this new series Judge Dee appears all alone (without his lieutenants) and each time in an unusual and brand-new situation” (20 July 1966; qtd. in “Robert Hans van Gulik 1910–1967” 385). Van Gulik died a little over a year after projecting this new series, and only two volumes, Necklace and Calabash and Poets and Murder, were composed. The new formula for the title—x and y—suggest that the third series, like the first and unlike the second, was intended to be read as a coherent unit.
15. Necklace and Calabash
(22 Chapters)
Scene: Rivertown, on the road to Poo-yang, Judge Dee’s 3rd posting
The Magistrate’s Men: None
The Cast:
The Third Princess, favorite daughter of the Emperor
Hydrangea, Chief Lady-in-Waiting
Lei Mang, Chief Eunuch of the Water Palace
Wen Tung, Superintendent of the Water Palace
Colonel Kang, Commander of the Imperial Guard
Captain Siew, Kang’s assistant
Lieutenant Liu, Siew’s assistant
Wei Cheng, host of the Kingfisher Inn
Mrs. Wei, his wife
Tai Min, cashier of the Kingfisher Inn
Lang Liu, wealthy silk merchant
Master Gourd, a Taoist monk
Victim: Tai Min
Villain’s motive: to extract information
Returning to Poo-yang, Judge Dee passes through Rivertown, the site of the Water Palace, home of the Emperor’s favorite daughter, the Third Princess, who has yet to choose a husband. As he enters Rivertown, the Judge sees the mutilated body of Tai Min being pulled from the river. At the instigation of Captain Siew, he adopts the incognito of a doctor for his stay in Rivertown. Soon he is called to the Water Palace, where the Third Princess commissions him to recover her missing pearl necklace and grants him extraordinary authority as an Imperial Inquisitor. Dee discovers that the murder of Tai Min and the theft of the necklace (and, as well, the disappearance of Mrs. Wei) are linked and solves the case.
The Magistrate’s Lieutenants
The lieutenants are absent. Ma Joong and Chiao Tai, who have been seconded to the village of Kuan-ti-maio to eradicate troublesome wild boars, do appear on the final page of Necklace and Calabash, where a haggard Judge Dee uncharacteristically joins them in a drink at a restaurant.
Plot
As in The Phantom of the Temple, Necklace and Calabash presents three mysteries to be solved: the murder of Tai Min, the theft of the necklace, and the disappearance of Mrs. Wei. And again, conspicuously abandoning the pattern set in the first twelve books, van Gulik does not mark the three as separate “Cases.” The two-part title, which does become a new pattern, has an important resonance. Earlier novels had played with the theme of opposites. In The Haunted Monastery, the first novel of the second series, the Taijitu diagram, which is the emblem of the fundamental yin-yang antinomy, had played a significant role. The diagram, along with a depiction of the eight trigrams of the I Ching and a circle of the Chinese zodiac, had appeared in the front of The Monkey and the Tiger; the books two novellas emphasizing further dichotomies: morning and night, summer and winter. The titles of the two third-series novels that van Gulik completed suggest that he meant to develop a deep binary structure in the “unusual and brand-new situations” in which he would involve Judge Dee.