A fiendishly clever mystery that can only be unraveled by the unflappable Judge Dee, whom the  Los Angeles Times  ranked with Sherlock Holmes The latest puzzling mystery facing Jude Dee begins on the night of the Poo-yang dragonboat races in 699 A.D.: a drummer in the leading boat collapses, and the body of a beautiful young woman turns up in a deserted country mansion. There, Judge Dee—tribunal magistrate, inquisitor, and public avenger—steps in to investigate the murders and return order to the Tang Dynasty. In The Emperor’s Pearl , the judge discovers that these two deaths are connected by an ancient tragedy involving a near-legendary treasure stolen from the Imperial Harem one hundred years earlier. The terrifying figure of the White Lady, a river goddess enshrined on a bloodstained altar, looms in the background of the investigation. Clues are few and elusive, but under the expert hand of Robert van Gulik, this mythic jigsaw puzzle assembles itself into a taut mystery.   This pair of Van Guliks, first published in 1963 and 1961, respectively, are the latest in the series of "Judge Dee Mystery" reprints. Judge Dee is a detective in ancient China, who, in the nature of Conan Doyle's and Christie's protagonists, is more cerebral than hard-boiled. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. “If you have not yet discovered Judge Dee and his faithful Sgt. Hoong, I envy you that initial pleasure which comes from the discovery of a great detective story. For the magistrate of Poo-yang belongs in that select group of fictional detectives headed by the renowned Sherlock Holmes.” -- Robert Kirsch ― Los Angeles Times “The title of this book and the book itself have much in common. Each is a jewel, a rare and precious find.” ― Atlanta Times “The China of old, in Mr. van Gulik’s skilled hands, comes vividly alive again.” -- Allen J. Hubin ― New York Times Book Review “Entertaining, instructive and oddly impressive. Judge Dee, the officers of his tribunal and the people with whom he and they are concerned are interesting folk, and the world of crime, mystery, violence, lust, corruption and ceremony in which they move is formidably picturesque.” ― Times Literary Supplement The time is 699 A.D.; the place is Poo-yang. Here Judge Dee, imperial magistrate, must investigate two deaths: the collapse of a young drummer in the annual dragon-boat race and the murder of a woman in a deserted country estate. The mystery involves the cruel River Goddess, and the legendary Emperor's Pearl, as well as a wealthy merchant's lovely, mute, mad wife. Robert van Gulik (1910–67) was a Dutch diplomat and an authority on Chinese history and culture. His many works include sixteen Judge Dee mysteries, a study of the gibbon in China, and two books on the Chinese lute. The Emperor's Pearl A Judge Dee Mystery By Robert H. van Gulik The University of Chicago Press Copyright © 1963 Robert H. Van Gulik All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-226-84872-3 CHAPTER 1 A tall man was lighting a stick of incense on the altar of the River Goddess. After he had stuck it in the bronze burner, he looked up at the serene face of the life-size statue, lit by the uncertain light of the only oil-lamp that hung from the smoke-blackened rafters of the small shrine. The goddess seemed to smile, faintly. 'Yes, you may well be happy!' the man said bitterly. 'Over in your sacred grove, you took her away from me just when I was about to sprinkle you with her blood. But tonight I have chosen a new victim for you, duly prepared for sacrifice. This time I shall ...' He checked himself and cast an anxious glance at the old priest in a tattered brown robe, sitting on the bench at the entrance of the shrine. The priest looked out over the riverbank, gaily decorated with coloured lampions, then bent again over his prayer-book. He paid not the slightest attention to the lonely visitor. The man looked up once more at the goddess. The wood of the statue was left plain; the sculptor had cleverly used the grain for accentuating the folds of the robe that descended from her rounded shoulders. She was sitting cross-legged on a many-petalled lotus flower, her left hand resting in her lap, the other raised in a gesture of benediction. 'You are beautiful!' the man whispered hoarsely. Staring intently at the still face above him, he went on: 'Tell me, why must all beauty be evil? Tempting man, enticing him with coy smiles and sidelong glances, then to repel him? Repel him with a contemptuous sneer, break him, then haunt him for ever afterwards ...?' He clutched at the edge of the altar, a maniacal glint in his distended eyes. 'It is right they are punished,' he muttered angrily. 'It is right that the knife is plunged in their treacherous hearts when they lie, stretched out, naked on the altar before you, right that their ...' Suddenly he broke off, startled. He thought he had seen a frown crease the smooth forehead of the goddess, round the pea