The Phantom of the Temple

Name: The Phantom of the Temple
Rating: 4.21 (1364 reviews)

by Robert Van Gulik Book 10 in the Judge Dee Mysteries series.

First published 1966

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During Judge Dee’s posting at Lan-fang, three unresolved matters demand his attention: a merchant’s missing daughter, twenty bars of gold that vanished while under official control and a headless body discovered near an abandoned temple. What appear to be separate crimes are connected by the concealed history of the temple and the people who once used it.

Rumours of a phantom discourage witnesses and turn the site into a source of fear, but Dee tests each supernatural claim against physical evidence and financial motive. The inquiry reveals a carefully sustained deception in which missing property, sexual violence and murder form parts of the same design.