The Chinese Nail Murders
The Chinese Nail Murders is a gong'an detective novel written by Robert van Gulik and set in Imperial China (roughly speaking the Tang Dynasty). It is a fiction based on the real character of Judge Dee (Ti Jen-chieh or Di Renjie), a magistrate and statesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly 630–700 BC.
 First UK edition | |
| Author | Robert van Gulik |
|---|---|
| Series | Judge Dee |
| Genre | Gong'an fiction, Mystery, Detective novel, Crime |
| Publisher | Michael Joseph (UK) Harper & Row (US) |
Publication date | 1961 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 216 |
| Preceded by | The Chinese Gold Murders |
| Followed by | The Haunted Monastery |
Plot introduction
Judge Dee, and his four helpers, solve three murders: that of an honored merchant, a master of martial arts, and the wife of a merchant, whose corpse has no head. Judge Dee soon comes under pressure from higher-ranking officials to end his investigation. Naturally, Judge Dee refuses to give up until he has learned the whole truth.
A nail murder was a motif of crime in ancient China.[1]
The case of the headless corpse was based on an actual 13th-century Chinese murder casebook.
References
- Summers, WC (1999). "The Chinese Nail Murders: Forensic medicine in Imperial China". The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine. 72 (6): 409–419. PMC 2579034. PMID 11138936.