I really enjoyed The Red Mandarin Dress (again, available cheap on Amazon and in kindle), though irreconcilable confusion and contradictions seem to be a deliberate theme. The title, and most of the book, insists on using term “mandarin dress” though …
Inspector Chen Cao: Qiu Xiaolong’s Mystery Series
The Inspector Chen mysteries by Qiu Xiaolong came highly recommended by retired JCCC librarian Andrea Kempf. I approached the first novel, Death of a Read Heroine, skeptically and read resistently for for the first 30 or 40 pages, but have…
Judge Dee: The Monkey and the Tiger
I enjoyed The Monkey and the Tiger. It’s 2 novellas that are unrelated – except by a lesson/theme in the Chinese zodiac. I have stories I could tell about that. Perhaps I shouldn’t. People in Asia still take it seriously. …
The Emporer’s Pearl and GuanYin
This Judge Dee book provides an interesting historical background on the the cult of GuanYin (aka Kuan Yin). This resonates with me, because of the parallels to the cult of Mary for Catholics (to which I was indoctrinated as a…
Judge Dee & Dee Goong An
Robert Van Gulik lived most of his life in the far East, worked professionally as a translator, and married a Chinese woman. He introduced Judge Dee mysteries partly in an attempt to counteract the dose of racism that came with…