The Monkey and the Tiger

Name: The Monkey and the Tiger
Rating: 4.07 (1363 reviews)

by Robert Van Gulik Book 9 in the Judge Dee Mysteries series.

First published 1965

Amazon

4.1(1,363)

The Morning of the Monkey begins when a gibbon drops an emerald into Judge Dee’s residence, leading him to a mutilated body hidden in the woods and a case involving merchants, family secrets and the treatment of travelling performers. The investigation takes place during Dee’s posting at Han-yuan.

In The Night of the Tiger, a flood separates Dee from his escort as he travels towards the imperial capital. Stranded in an isolated country house surrounded by bandits, he must identify treachery within the household while organising its defence. The paired novellas place deduction beside animal symbolism, natural disaster and physical survival.