THE SHADOW OF THE EMPIRE

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.