![]() ![]() Hoong, I envy you that initial pleasure which comes from the discovery of a great detective story. "If you have not yet discovered Judge Dee and his faithful Sgt. ![]() ![]() Clues are few and elusive, but under the expert hand of Robert van Gulik, this mythic jigsaw puzzle assembles itself into a taut mystery. The terrifying figure of the White Lady, a river goddess enshrined on a bloodstained altar, looms in the background of the investigation. In The Emperor's Pearl, the judge discovers that these two deaths are connected by an ancient tragedy involving a near-legendary treasure stolen from the Imperial Harem one hundred years earlier. There, Judge Dee-tribunal magistrate, inquisitor, and public avenger-steps in to investigate the murders and return order to the Tang Dynasty. It all begins on the night of the Poo-yang dragonboat races in 699 A.D.: a drummer in the leading boat collapses, and the body of a beautiful young woman turns up in a deserted country mansion. ![]()
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