he Conspiracies of the Empire

by Qiu Xiaolong

Overview

The legendary Judge Dee Renjie returns, in this lyrical combination of mystery, history and ancient Chinese politics from the author of the renowned Inspector Chen mysteries

"[Dee is an] admirable protagonist . . . [who] comes to believe that this case could be his last. Here's hoping he's wrong" The Wall Street Journal

In Tang dynasty China, Empress Wu - seductive, ambitious and vindictive - rules with an iron fist. Her premier minister, Judge Dee Renjie, is honored to be trusted by her. But when she orders him to carry out an urgent investigation into the disappearance of disgraced poet Luo Binwang, he can't see why the matter is of such vital importance.

Luo Binwang joined a doomed uprising against Her Majesty, and vanished after the final, bloody battle. Is he missing - or dead? Either way, now that the rebellion has been mercilessly quashed, what harm could a poor, elderly poet do?

Traveling out of the great capital of Chang'an, accompanied by his loyal manservant Yang, Judge Dee launches a painstaking investigation, in the hopes of achieving what the empress' secret police could not. But the journey is marred by ill omens, and with death and disaster following his every step, Judge Dee soon begins to wonder if the empress trusts him as much as he thought . . .

This powerful mystery, set in ancient China, will appeal to fans of Robert Van Gulik's novels featuring the semi-fictional historical character Judge Dee, and includes an appendix of poems from some of China's finest Tang dynasty poets, newly translated by the author, who is an award-wining poet and critic in his own right.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781448313082
Publisher:	Severn House
Publication date:	11/05/2024
Series:	A Judge Dee Investigation , #2
Edition description:	Main
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.79(w) x 8.74(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Anthony Award winning author Qiu Xiaolong was born in Shanghai and moved to Washington Universityin St Louis, US, to complete a PhD degree in comparative literature. After the Tiananmen tragedy in 1989 he stayed on in St Louis where he still lives with his wife. Qiu's sold over two million copies of his Inspector Chen mysteries worldwide and been published in twenty languages. On top of his fiction, he is a prize-winning writer of poetry.

All the titles in the Inspector Chen series, including Hold Your Breath, China, have been dramatized in BBC Radio 4 productions.

Editorial Reviews

Qiu writes in a lyrical style . . . Poems become clues, even evidence, in the far-from-cursory probe he conducts

Wall Street Journal on The Shadow of the Empire

Qiu brings his admirable protagonist and his milieu into clear relief

Wall Street Journal

Qiu's rendition [of Judge Dee] is just as approachable and good-natured as his contemporary murder mysteries

The Asian Review of Books on The Shadow of the Empire

The latest Chen is both a scathing indictment of contemporary China and an explanation of how poet Chen came to be Chief Inspector Chen. Gripping

Booklist on Becoming Inspector Chen

Judge Dee and Yang are an endearing duo for this delightful series

The Historical Novels Review on The Shadow of the Empire

2024-08-17
The search for a missing poet triggers an avalanche of reveries in 7th-century China.

Dee Renjie, who serves as imperial circuit supervisor of the Tang Empire, is summoned by the widowed Empress Wu and tasked with finding the poet Luo Binwang, who played a role in a recent (unsuccessful) rebellion led by General Xu and hasn’t been seen since. Renjie—who’s known as Judge Dee because of his age and exalted position—immediately sets out, accompanied by doggedly faithful servant Yang. Their investigation takes them into the damaged countryside and pockets of the populace riven by the rebellion, far from the safety of the palace. Little Swallow, a delicate young “fishing girl,” fetes them with one of her popular sampan meals and provides some intel about Luo. The subsequent tragic fate of Little Swallow and others convinces Judge Dee of the urgency of wrapping up his investigation by any means possible. A postscript explains the novel’s factual roots, noting that Judge Dee, Luo Binwang, Empress Wu, and other characters really existed. Grounded in history, this second Judge Dee mystery—followingThe Shadow of the Empire (2022)—balances a passion for literature with a measured, character-driven investigation, each arguably a MacGuffin for the other. Every chapter opens with quotations by cultural heavyweights ranging from John Donne to Arthur Schopenhauer to Ludwig Wittgenstein, and bits of verse, often from Chinese poets of the time, are sprinkled throughout.

An elegant souffle of history, mystery, and classic poetry.

Kirkus Reviews