Judge Dee is a venerated if unconventional district judge in China. In this book he works on three different cases which overlap in his schedule. As a judge, he's a member of the elite class, the Literati. Consequently he's a well-educated man and has even received some formal training in medicine which proves handy. His approach to investigation proves off-putting and borderline illegal as many of his suspects and inferiors point out. Overall, however, his methodology is effective, and he is able to solve all three of the cases and mediate judgement for the guilty parties.
The Double Murder at Dawn
The lawman of Six Mile Village, Warden Pang, discovers a couple of corpses just outside the city gates. When he learns they are silk merchants who lodged the night before at Koong Wan-Deh's hostel, he approaches Judge Dee with the case. He believes Koong Wan-Deh is responsible for murdering them. When Dee calls Koong in for questioning, he dismisses him as a suspect because Koong can only verify that one of the victims lodged with him. The other is a stranger. In order for Dee to leave his compound, he must be accompanied by a parade of local officials who herald his approach, according to tradition. This complicates his investigative abilities, so he occasionally leaves in disguise without informing his aides. Dressed as a doctor, he visits the place where the bodies were found. He finds clues at the site which lead him the murderer, whom he punishes with the full fury of the law. It was just a random incident of explosive anger.
The Strange Corpse
While away dressed as a doctor, Dee is stopped by a woman named Mrs. Bee who begs him to help her with an illness. Being medically informed, he visits her home. At her residence he learns that the woman's son, Bee Hsun, had died about a year ago. Expecting to meet a grieving widow, Dee is instead faced with a placid woman named Mrs. Djou. The couple's daughter is deaf and mute, but she only became that way after her father's death. Faced with these bizarre emotional responses to the son's death, Dee concludes that the son must have died from foul play of some sort. It comes out that the mother was accidentally responsible for her son's death. Chinese law is rather unforgiving, and she receives a harsh legal punishment.
The Poisoned Bride
The final case is brought before the judge by a well-respected former prefect, Mr. Hua. He comes to the judicial compound claiming his son's bride Miss Lee had been poisoned on her wedding night by the groom's close companion, Candidate Hoo. All of the people in question are members of the elite class, so Dee is called upon to comport himself with perfect dignity and respect when dealing with them all. It turns out that Candidate Hoo knows the murderer and bears a grudge against him, so he helps Dee catch his man.
Judge Dee is responsible for judging defendants as well as prosecuting them and administering punishments. He seems to relish the more harsh aspects of his job, particularly the interrogations. He tortures more than one witness to make them confess. Additionally his sentences are tough and gory. One guilty part is beheaded, another strangled, and one sliced to pieces. These are all perfectly acceptable punishments culturally. Overall Dee is just but severe man who takes the responsibility of his work extremely seriously.
