Soon after taking up his first magisterial post in the godforsaken district of Peng-lai, Judge Dee must look into the murder of his predecessor. His job is complicated by the simultaneous disappearnce of his chief clerk and the new bride of a wealthy local shipowner.

''The China of old, in Mr. van Gulik's skilled hands, comes vividly alive
again.''--Allen J. Hubin, New York Times Book Review

''If you have not yet discovered Judge Dee, I envy you that initial
pleasure . . . the discovery of a great detective story. For the
magistrate of Poo-yan belongs in that select group headed by Sherlock
Holmes.''--Robert Kirsch, Los Angeles Times

Robert van Gulik (1910-67), a Dutch diplomat and an authority on Chinese
history and culture, drew his plots from the popular detective novels
that appeared in seventeenth-century China.