The Conspiracies of the Empire: A Judge Dee Investigation by Qiu Xiaolong
The Conspiracies of the Empire is a detective story featuring the legendary Tang Dynasty Chinese detective Judge Dee Renjie. Written in 2024 by Chinese American mystery writer Qiu Xiaolong, The Conspiracies of the Empire tells about Judge Dee's search for the missing poet Luo Binwang whom the Empress Wu asks Judge Dee to find. The poet had written "A Call to Arms" a poem very critical of the Empress and an influential document of a failed uprising. Luo either died or disappeared in the final failed battle of the uprising and the Empress wants Dee to find out what happened to Luo.
Dee Renjie was a Tang Dynasty politician born in 630 about whom an 18th century Ming Dynasty author wrote a mystery novel that was discovered and translated from the Chinese in the early 20th century by Robert van Gulik, a Dutch orientalist. Van Gulik and others have since written other novels featuring Judge Dee. The Shadow of the Empire is the first of two such novels written by Qiu Xiaolong. There are also Judge Dee TV series, movies and a video game.
This volume includes an appendix of poems from some of China’s finest Tang dynasty poets, newly translated by the author, who is an award-wining poet and critic in his own right.
