Deadly Relations: A Ming Dynasty Mystery
Hong Shu-chang is a farmer’s son whose father has sacrificed everything for years to enable him to study for the three arduous state examinations, success in which would guarantee him a splendid career and a huge increase in status for himself, his family, and his village. When he emerges from the cell where he has been sequestered for a week sitting the second examination, he is met with the news that his father and uncle have been murdered. At the same time, the ground landlord demands the reversion of the land the Hong family has farmed for decades.
Facing destitution but determined on vengeance, Shu-chang moves to a nearby market town to take up a position as teacher but soon becomes embroiled in a further investigation concerning a burnt-out warehouse and two dead bodies. He is assisted by a distant cousin, Xiang-hua, an attractive young woman who comes from a long line of female physicians and puts her privileged access to women’s quarters to good use in gathering information.
P.A. De Voe’s sparse, laconic style quickly draws us into Shu-chang’s life, a life which has been very circumscribed to date. Now he must meet new challenges and dangers, but he encounters many more opportunities, so that the book is also a coming-of-age story.
As all the mysteries are not solved, we may hope to meet Shu-chang and Xiang-hua again. Deadly Relations echoes the old Chinese tradition of detective stories as exemplified by Robert Van Gulik in his Judge Dee novels and offers a welcome return to this world.
