Sound Commentary - Your Wise Guide to Audiobooks and Audio Book Reviews

Noted linguist, orientalist, and diplomat, Robert van Gulik (1910-1967) discovered and translated in 1949 an anonymous detective novel Dee Goong An, written in the 18th century, detailing three cases solved by the eminent jurist Judge Dee in the 7th century. Fifteen more novels of his own followed, borrowing the main characters of Judge Dee and his lieutenants Ma Joong, Chiao Tai (former highwaymen), Tao Gan (a reformed itinerant swindler), and Sergeant Hoong, an old family retainer. In the original Celebrated Cases, Judge Dee is faced with three difficult mysteries: The Case of the Double Murder at Dawn, The Case of the Strange Corpse, and The Case of the Poisoned Bride. In the first case, two silk merchants are found stabbed to death and the local warden accuses their landlord. Judge Dee goes in disguise to the hostel and discovers that one of the corpses is not a silk merchant. While he is there he hears of a woman whose son had died suddenly in the night after a great cry of pain. Her daughter-in-law is so distraught that she has locked herself in her room every day. She and the dead man have a mute daughter of 7 who lost her voice suddenly shortly after her father's death. Judge Dee risks his career on an exhumation but the autopsy shows no evidence of foul play. However, he learns the name of a killer in a dream. An interlude, a play within the play, performed by Lorna Raver and Stefan Rudnicki tells of three strangers who meet at a festival of flowers. A third case arises in which an 18-year-old bride is murdered on her wedding night and her mother thinks she was poisoned. Dee discovers the unlikely solution.

In some cases Dee must use torture to force a confession because only a confession is accepted as positive proof of guilt. Public execution by strangulation or beheading are lovingly described. The "lingering death" is a public favorite, during which the victim is sliced to death for an hour. For his fine work Dee is promoted. The author's note provides the five characteristics of a Chinese detective story. First, there is no suspense. The reader knows all along who is guilty. Second, there are supernatural elements, such as Dee's prophetic dream and a belief in ghosts. Third, the stories are full of detail and are very long. Fourth, there may be 200 characters in one book because of names and family relationships. Fifth, the authors and readers were more interested in punishment than the crime and graphic accounts with gruesome details were required and expected. Dee Goong An is artfully narrated by Mark Bramhall, who studied acting at Harvard and was a Fulbright scholar at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. He pronounces the Chinese names with assurance. His full-voiced reading is especially good with querulous old men and the stern Judge Dee. Highly recommended.

Dee Goong An. Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee. Translated by Robert Van Gulik. Read by mark Bramhall. 7 CDs. 8 hrs. Blackstone Audio. 1949/2009. 978-1-4332-8868-5. $ . Vinyl binder; plot, author, reader. *SA

 

 

By Janet Julian

Janet Julian was a high school English teacher forthirty-five years and a KLIATT reviewer for thirty-two. She retired in 2001 and gives audiobooks to those friends who still commute.

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