The Shadow of the Empire

December 1, 2021
A bureaucrat and man of letters probes the death of a notorious poet and courtesan in seventh-century China. Dee Renjie, newly appointed Imperial Circuit Supervisor of the Tang Empire, has no objection to being called Judge Dee, though this moniker is more reflective of his position within the complicated imperial court than of his erudition and achievements. Indeed, the contemplative Dee bears a strong resemblance to Qiu's Inspector Chen, the law enforcement officer with an artistic soul who has maneuvered through the minefield of the Chinese Communist Party while solving crimes over a dozen novels. Judge Dee becomes obsessed with the case of Xuanji, a beautiful, promiscuous courtesan and poet arrested for the beating death of Ning, a maidservant whom she's buried in the backyard. Though she hasn't been convicted of manslaughter, Xuanji remains incarcerated and is considered a murderer. Dee's probe begins at a monastery, aided by the appropriately named monk Nameless. Xuanji's poems provide breadcrumbs on the investigative trail. Mysticism hangs over the case in the oft-mentioned spirit of the black fox. More murders convince Dee of Xuanji's innocence and fuel his hunt for a solution. His prison meeting with the enigmatic Xuanji is both frustrating and exhilarating. A lengthy appendix provides many more poems by the real-life Xuanji, and a postscript lays out the tangled genesis of this series debut, inspired by both history and the Judge Dee novels of Dutch author Robert Van Gulik. Qiu's ultimate homage is presenting this novel as the work of Inspector Chen. An elaborate and satisfying souffle of mystery, history, and poetry.

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Starred review from December 6, 2021
Set in seventh-century China, this brilliant series launch from Qiu (the Inspector Chen series) features real-life Dee Renjie (aka Judge Dee), who has just been appointed the Imperial Circuit Supervisor, a post he believes he was given to send him away from the capital city, Chang’ an, after he opposed Empress Wu’s choice of successor. Before Dee can begin his assignment, a knife is thrown through the window of his hostel room with a threatening note attached. Later, the empress’s nephew, Internal Minister Wu, asks Dee to probe a sensational murder. Xuanji, a popular poet, allegedly beat her servant Ning to death before burying the body near the poet’s home. Xuanji followed her initial claim that she knew nothing about the killing with a confession to the crime, which she claimed to have committed while drunk. Dee, who believes the confession to be incomplete at best, investigates. Qiu combines a sophisticated puzzle with appropriate period detail, avoiding the anachronisms of previous Judge Dee fiction. Fans of those books, by Robert van Gulik and others, will clamor for more.