I originally bought the French version of this book while I was in Paris last summer and then bought the English version on ebay. A murder mystery set in a haunted Taoist monastery during the Tang sounded perfect and I did enjoy it even if there weren't any actual ghosts. I read the English version first this time and then the French version. This helped with my comprehension of the French a great deal as when I found one passage confusing I could go back and figure out what was going on from the other bits and put together what the French was trying to say. It was also nice to go back and re-read as now I know what was actually happening it was great to see things from a different perspective.
The story was fun and action packed, taking place in the duration of one night. The fact that it was all in one monastery was nice as it made it quite different to the usual visits to taverns and the underworld of the other Judge Dee books that I've read. It even had lesbians and cross dressing! Dee's three wives showed up in this book as they were travelling with him, though they did seem to be almost entirely pointless and interchangeable which was a bit disappointing. The villain when revealed was rather fun, even if the use of "secret Taoist sexual practices" was a bit unrealistic. There were only a couple of anachronisms in the book that I noticed, there were references to the Eight Immortals, which weren't part of the Taoist pantheon at this point, as well as the Kings of Hell. But there were also great discussions about the different aspects of what Confucianism and Taoism was supposed to cover. These were very short so as not to bore the mystery reader but nice for the person familiar with the history to read and smile about. This was Definitely my favourite Judge Dee book so far and I look forward to reading the rest.
The story was fun and action packed, taking place in the duration of one night. The fact that it was all in one monastery was nice as it made it quite different to the usual visits to taverns and the underworld of the other Judge Dee books that I've read. It even had lesbians and cross dressing! Dee's three wives showed up in this book as they were travelling with him, though they did seem to be almost entirely pointless and interchangeable which was a bit disappointing. The villain when revealed was rather fun, even if the use of "secret Taoist sexual practices" was a bit unrealistic. There were only a couple of anachronisms in the book that I noticed, there were references to the Eight Immortals, which weren't part of the Taoist pantheon at this point, as well as the Kings of Hell. But there were also great discussions about the different aspects of what Confucianism and Taoism was supposed to cover. These were very short so as not to bore the mystery reader but nice for the person familiar with the history to read and smile about. This was Definitely my favourite Judge Dee book so far and I look forward to reading the rest.