Pen-Lai District, North East China, AD 663. Newly arrived from the Imperial Capital to take up his first post as Magistrate, Judge Dee is at once confronted with three eerie and baffling mysteries which test his analytical and deductive powers to the limit, drawing him along a trail of blood leading to a criminal of boundless ambition -- and to a plot which will rock the vast bureaucracy of the ..

Seven foul crimes; seven cunning murderers brought to justice by the master-detective of China's glorious T'ang Empire. (And one innocent person exonerated). 'A rich new vein of detective fiction is worked by Mr van Gulik . . . Entertaining, instructive and impressive'.

A stupendous bestseller in Japan and standing at number 17 on Amazon US's 'Best Mysteries of the Century' list, this tale of murder, adultery and intrigue is set in the mid 1960s against the crash of the Tokyo stock market.

When a much disliked visiting servant disappears without trace after playing Santa Claus, foul play is at once suspected - and suspicion falls on the guests. When Superintendent Roderick Alleyn returns unexpectedly from a trip, it is to find his beloved wife in the thick of an intriguing mystery.

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