Where Judge Dee Solves the Maze

The Chinese Maze Murders by Robert van Gulik
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is another entertaining mystery in a successful series.

Just like other titles in the series, the magistrate Judge Dee is faced with three separate mysteries, all coming in at about the same time, and so he is working on them all at once. It's also typical (though not universal) that he's arriving at a new posting, discovering a bunch of messed up stuff left by the previous magistrate. Here, it's a crime syndicate oppressing the people like a land baron in some westerns. Without troops or a regular police force to back him up, Judge Dee has to use some clever trickery to hold off the powerful criminal organization before he can even start to unwind all the knots in the mysteries.

It's interesting to see in this novel that Judge Dee is wondering if he should keep working in his profession, which takes a toll both because of the unending nature of the work as well as the ugliness of it, tracking down murderers and the like. He's considering giving it up, going back where he came from to farm a small plot of land. I wouldn't blame him at all. Because he has to oversee both the questioning, which at that time included whipping and torture, as well as the sentencing, which could be brutal, the reader might wonder if he's brutal himself. It appears not. He does his job, but he doesn't enjoy the cruelty.

His insightful methods are a lot of fun, but his assistants are perhaps even more entertaining. They're kinda rough guys (reformed highwaymen and conmen) who are fiercely loyal to the judge. They risk a lot and show a ton of ingenuity on their own to track down clues and people. Between them, we get the whole Sherlock experience: amazing deductions, clever disguises, danger, and some self-defense with martial arts. Lots of fun, but there could be a bit that triggers people; like many of his books, the crimes here are not just murder but also include elements of SA. FYI.

(That's what mysteries are about, right? Bad guys doing bad stuff, then getting caught by good guys. But such stories are not for everyone, of course.)

As always, good if not great, which is just about as much as you can hope for when you open a book. So far I've enjoyed them all and look forward to reading the stack I just bought.

Recommended for historical mystery fans.

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