The Greedy Mandarin 法官狄 Tee

Another Robert Van Gulik mystery of the famous Chinese Judge Dee. Van Gulik was a Dutch diplomat that spent many years in China. The job must have been boring and he became so fascinated with Chinese Classics that he took up the stories of Judge Dee, an historical magistrate who lived during the Tang Dynasty, and wrote a dozen new Judge Dee adventures.

Judge Dee appears in these books as a cruel, rapacious dictator of the Poo-Yang district. In The Emperor's Pearl there are three murders in the first day and Dee, as is his habit, directs his attention to the wealthiest families of the town. Dee maneuvers skillfully the judicial investigation till the rich serial killer confesses and his wealth is duly confiscated by the Judge. The psychological background is clear: Yang is in love with Gold Lotus, he raped her and was rejected, causing him a compulsive mania to punish and murder dozens of prostitutes.

The adventure ends satisfactorily with a full confession of Yang, where all the facts fall into place; Yang's fortune passes into the hands of the Judge, and everybody stands in awe of his rectitude and intellect. In the end, the clairvoyant Judge finds the Emperor's long lost pearl hidden in a nest. He writes the entertaining story of his achievements to the Emperor and returns him his fabulous pearl, gaining the favor of his superiors in addition to gold and fame.