Book Club Discussion - The Chinese Maze Murders

Brad Hutchison · Post by **Brad Hutchison** » Tue May 06, 2008 9:41 am

New sticky please...

Just checking on everyone. I just got my copy and I'm about halfway through. Is everyone else done? Are you enjoying the book?

Jennifer Frank · Post by **Jennifer Frank** » Tue May 06, 2008 8:15 pm

I'm on Chapter 12. I enjoy it when I read it, but I'm having a hard time staying committed to it. I read a chapter or two before bed. Springtime makes it more difficult to curl up with a book. I'd rather play outside in my free time.

Lynn Farris · Post by **Lynn Farris** » Tue May 13, 2008 4:50 pm

Whoops!

I better get the book ASAP. Where did you get yours? Do you know if they have more?

Thanks

Brad Hutchison · Post by **Brad Hutchison** » Thu May 15, 2008 8:26 am

I had to order it online, and I think Jennifer did too. I couldn't find it in any stores, but Borders and Barnes & Noble had it readily available online.

Lynn Farris · Post by **Lynn Farris** » Fri May 23, 2008 4:08 pm

I'm sorry to say, I just got my book today. I'm planning to read this weekend - but if you want to start without me go ahead - I can catch up. The Cleveland Public Library had it - but it took me 2 trips to get it.

Brad Hutchison · Post by **Brad Hutchison** » Sun May 25, 2008 12:24 pm

I'm happy to wait for you. I doubt Jennifer would have an objection.

Jennifer Frank · Post by **Jennifer Frank** » Sun May 25, 2008 9:50 pm

I just finished it today. Let us know when you're done, Lynn.

Brad Hutchison · Post by **Brad Hutchison** » Mon May 26, 2008 10:35 am

I actually just finished today too.

Lynn Farris · Post by **Lynn Farris** » Wed May 28, 2008 8:52 pm

Go ahead and start - I'll catch up.

Lynn Farris · Post by **Lynn Farris** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 1:59 pm

Finished the book last night. Thanks Brad for the suggestion, I really enjoyed it.

Brad Hutchison · Post by **Brad Hutchison** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 6:20 pm

I enjoyed it too. I'll post comments and questions soon.

Brad Hutchison · Post by **Brad Hutchison** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 9:35 am

I really enjoyed The Chinese Maze Murders. I felt like it was the best I could hope for: a decent mystery with more insight into contemporary Chinese culture than I was expecting.

I was fascinated by the whole judicial process. That the magistrate is essentially mayor, detective, judge, and jury was interesting, as were the court proceedings. In many ways, the tribunal functioned similarly to our own courts, but you were reminded of the differences every time the defendant was stripped and beaten on the spot.

Judge Dee was a neat character, I thought. Very Holmes-ian in his methods. The case with the poisoned plums and the murderous pen could have been written by Arthur Conan Doyle himself. I've always been a big Holmes fan, and I love following the deductions of the master detective, even the slightly far-fetched schemes that always seem to work.

According to the post-script, it was common of the Chinese detective novels to have the magistrate working 3 unrelated cases at the same time, but I thought it was a little disjointed at times. I would really start to get into one case, then the story would switch gears. On top of the 3 main cases were the problems of Chien Mow and the barbarian invasion. There certainly was no shortage of action, and all in all I thought the cases taken individually were well-crafted.

I hope you ladies enjoyed it. It was definitely a departure from some of our earlier books, but I thought it fulfilled our goal of finding a mystery that could also teach us some cultural lessons.

Some questions:

Were you able to "solve" any of the mysteries before Judge Dee? Be honest!

How did you feel about the trial process?

What did you find most interesting from a cultural standpoint?

Which case was your favorite and why?

What was your overall impression of the book?

Jennifer Frank · Post by **Jennifer Frank** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 9:20 pm

Here are my answers:
Were you able to "solve" any of the mysteries before Judge Dee? Be honest!
I was not able to solve any of the cases, but I did have some suspicions about Mrs. Lee.

How did you feel about the trial process?
The judge acted as detective, prosecutor, judge and jury. He could be a one character episode of Law and Order! The torture was a bit disconcerting, because a suspect could only be found guilty if he confessed, so torture to get a confession was common.

What did you find most interesting from a cultural standpoint?
I found the court room interesting. I was a bit annoyed by the fake humilty shown ex: This weak man is not worthy to have such a smart and powerful person stand upon my humble threshhold, etc...The treatment of women was also enlightening.

Which case was your favorite and why?
My favorite was the case of "The Hidden Testament". I enjoyed the cryptic scroll. I liked that the father predicted his son's downfall, and wanted to protect his second son.

What was your overall impression of the book? Overall, I liked it, and it broadened my cultural understanding a bit. However, for me it was not a page turner and a slow read. Perhaps the 2 headings for each chapter made it easier to put the book down after a chapter, because I could look at the next chapter, see what was coming, and then put it down.

Any ideas for a next book? Is it Lynn's turn?

Lynn Farris · Post by **Lynn Farris** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 11:51 am

Sorry, I've been so slow, my son graduated from college and then we helped him move to Dallas last week! Lots and lots of work!

Were you able to "solve" any of the mysteries before Judge Dee? Be honest! Like Jennifer, I didn't solve any of them. It seemed to me like the wife was innocent and the son was bad - in the case of the scroll. I was completely wrong on the monks - I assumed they were innocent ( a minor case).

How did you feel about the trial process? It did seem that Judge Dee wanted to be fair and convict the guilty and exonerate the innocent. But the torture to get the confessions seemed very different from our approach.

What did you find most interesting from a cultural standpoint? I really liked that it was based on old detective stories. Goes to show that people don't really change all that much. One of the things that surprised me was the case of the missing girl. The postscript talks about the history of Cruelty of women against women which may be somewhat indicative of a polygamic society. Learned a new word here too: sapphism

Main Entry: sapÂ·phism
Function: noun
Etymology: Sappho + -ism; from the belief that Sappho was homosexual
Date: circa 1890
: lesbianism

Which case was your favorite and why? I think I agree with Jennifer - the scroll was my favorite - because I was so sure the wife was innocent - because she wanted to persue this even after warnings from Judge Dee. I didn't know that messages were hidden in scrolls.

What was your overall impression of the book? My son has studied a lot of early Chinese Art History. (He lets me read the books after he is done.) So it was fascinating to read this side of Chinese History - and particularily to have a scroll as part of one of the mysteries. I was a little wary of the book when I started but once I got into it - I thought it was a quick, easy read. I realized I really liked it when I thought of going back and getting more books in this series. The Cleveland Public Library has many of them.

We are moving this month - so if Jennifer wants to go ahead this month - I should be able to take my turn in August. I will still try to read - since I may need a little break.

Brad Hutchison · Post by **Brad Hutchison** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 9:09 am

The original book Van Gulik wrote, called Dee Goong An ("The Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee") is a direct translation of a Chinese detective story (rather than an original work based on early sources). I found it at Half Price Books for a couple bucks.

Jennifer please go ahead and choose a book. I think during the summer, based on this book, we should assume it's going to take everyone a little longer.