The mystery of Chinese gold
E-book, Czech
The mystery of Chinese gold
A legendary judge is solving the mysterious death of his predecessor.
The young judge Ti Zhenzhi arrives in the frigid port of Penglai to take his first office. Instead of a peaceful administration of the district, however, he finds a fog-shrouded nest of intrigue. His predecessor, Wang, died under mysterious circumstances in the middle of a locked study, and the threads of the crime run all the way to the highest levels of the imperial administration.
With the help of the loyal Sergeant Chung and two reformed bandits, Ma Zhong and Jiao Tai, Judge Ti must not only solve the death of the chief and the disappearance of the young bride, but also unravel the mystery of the golden statue that threatens the stability of the entire empire. Every move they make could cost them their heads, for the enemy is much closer than they admit.
In this chronological first novel in the famous series of historical detective stories set in ancient China, Robert van Gulik traces the birth of the legendary Judge Ti, whose famous cases range from river brothels to the palaces of the most powerful leaders of the empire.
Robert van Gulik
Robert van Gulik (1910-1967) was born in the Netherlands but spent almost his entire life in the Far East. He was particularly fascinated by Chinese culture. In addition to his writing career, he has also served as a diplomat, for example in Malaysia, Japan and his beloved China. He has translated his knowledge of China into his literary work, particularly the popular historical detective series The Tales of Judge Ti, whose central protagonist is inspired by a real-life 7th century figure. In his books, van Gulik combines the Western detective logic of investigation and deduction with traditional Chinese storytelling, which connects multiple stories at once. Robert van Gulik was a true polyglot - in addition to several European languages, he had an active knowledge of Chinese, Japanese and Malay. For academic interests he studied Sanskrit and Tibetan. His love for China has spilled over into his private life: He chose a gibbon as his pet and played the traditional Chinese stringed instrument guqin.
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