The Chinese Gold Murders

"No Chinaman must figure in the story."
"Ten Commandments for Detective Fiction"

I mention this basically every time I do reviews of stories I read in Japanese but set in a Chinese-language setting, but I hate how much more time it takes for me to write these reviews, because I have to look up what the Chinese pronunciation is of all the names...

Pei Jing, a state examination candidate student living in the bustling city of Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty, is one day summoned by Mole, the Kunlun slave (= the dark-skinned slaves hailing from isolated parts of South-East Asia) of his friend Cui Jing. While the bright young lad knows it's quite impertinent for someone of his standing to request anything, he hopes Pei Jing can help him save his master: according to Mole, Cui Jing has barely been returning home lately, going to work, but asking not to be picked up after work, and he only returns very late, without providing for any explanation. Pei Jing learns from Mole that this all started after Cui Jing had been sent as a representative to the Palace Attendant Yaun Zai, one of the men closest to the emperor, and that since that night, Cui Jing has been acting suspiciously. Pei Jing, worried his friend might have gotten involved in something shady, starts asking questions, but as he follows the trail, he ends up stumbling upon the mutilated body of a merchant, whose stomach has been cut open and whose intestines have been removed: the latest victim in a series of gruesome murders with the exact same M.O. that have been happening in Chang'an. Dou, a friend and police detective in Chang'an, confides to Pei Jing that for some reason, the local district police forces have taken off this case, with the investigation being headed by a group of guards who are under the direct influence of Yuan Zai. The official investigation is focusing on Xu Long, a shady Taoist who has been gathering followers lately and is supposed to be well-versed in the mystic arts: he might have eaten the intestines as part of the rituals needed to attain immortality. Dou however feels something is not right, and suspects the murders might have to do with the reason why Cui Jing has been mostly absent from his home for the last few weeks, Pei Jing and Dou start investigating the case together, which brings them on the trail of a big corruption scandal, and an impossible crime where a group of assassins appeared out of nowhere and disappeared with a heap of gold in Koizumi Kajuu's 2024 novel Konrondo ("The Kunlun Slave").

Some years ago, I discussed Koizumi Kajuu's 2000 debut novel Higa ("The Moth"), which featured a highly original setting, being set in twelfth century Middle-East and focusing on the mystic side of Islam as its theme, while also presenting a locked room mystery. Interestingly, Koizumi basically disappeared after his debut novel, as he wouldn't write another novel until 2024's Konrondo, which again uses a rather unique setting, and being a 'modern' take on a wuxia romance with the exact same title, a tale revolving around the nearly supernatural Kunlun slave Mole who endeavours to help his master. Koizumi once again shows he does a lot of research into these settings, and he paints a very unique background for this sometimes fantastical tale of mystery. While a lot of mystery readers might be familiar with a classic China setting mystery through Robert van Gulik's Judge Dee stories, Konrondo definitely feels different enough in both its setting and style. For one, like in Higa, Koizumi focuses a lot of the mystic side of culture: Konrondo will teach the reader a lot about mystic Taoism and the search for life elixers and eternal life by these Taoist, whereas van Gulik's Judge Dee books usually focus more on the "official" sides of society like the upper class and state Confucianism. Koizumi also has an eye for the minorities in the community of the Chang'an metropolis. From the bright Kunlun slave Mole to informant proprietor's of brothels and Dou being of Turkish descent, it's quite interesting to see how many of the major characters are not ethnically Chinese or not from the higher social classes, again in contrast to a majority of the settings in Judge Dee stories.

As a mystery, Konrondo starts off a bit slow, as there's no clear mystery: things start off by Pei Jing looking for Cui Jing, but it's not like anything really mysterious is going, Cui Jing is just barely coming back home. And just when you think things become more "properly mysterious" when we learn about the series of murders on officials who have their guts taken out of their bodies, this investigation also seems to not move as quickly or deeply as you'd suspect, as Dou isn't officially on the case and can't be too overt in his operations with Pei Jing. In the end, a lot of this story is about characters talking, and some parts do feature a lot of exposition: when Dou first tells Mole about how the official investigation is suspecting the Toaist Xu Long, they have a whole historical and theological discussion about how Mole cannot believe Xu Long is actually a follower of the deity Lushanjun, the Lord of Mount Lu. Which is interesting and all, but it's a very slow way to tell you just that Xu Long might be a swindler and how the belief the murderer is just someone who's into eating intestines is probably wrong. 

The mystery becomes more interesting when Pei Jing and Dou learn about a corruption scandal involving Yuan Zai and a shady deal that went completely wrong: Men affiliated with Yuan Zai were supposed to make an illegal deal with merchants to by-pass taxation, with the men on both sides meeting in a small hut in a lonely field. The merchants and buyers went inside the hut, where heaps of gold and the imported items would trade owners. Guards under the influence of Yuan Zai were posted on the field to keep an eye on things, but something went wrong suddenly: a fire broke out in the hut and people started screaming, and suddenly three assassins appeared from inside the hut, having killed the people inside, and continuing their kill spree outside, taking out over a dozen of Yuan Zai's guards: the sole survivor had fleed the scene and laid low, keeping an eye on the hut. After the assassins had left the scene, the survivor went in the burnt-down hut, but to his great surprise he found the loot gone: while it was logical the imported items had been lost to the fire, where did the gold go to? It obviously couldn't have been burned, but he saw the assassins leave empty-handed, so where did the gold that was carried into the hut go to, and how had the three assassins appeared inside the hut in the first place? The solution to the impossible appearance of the assassins isn't really surprising nor impressive, and in theory, the impossible disappearance of the gold isn't that interesting either, but the latter mystery and solution however is really well-grounded in the world Koizumi has depicted in this novel: while it might not be really surprising if you are somewhat familiar with the themes and subjects Koizumi is talking about in this book, I'd say he made good use of the historical and cultural background to create this impossible situation.

The mystery behind the men being found with their stomachs cut open/intestines removed isn't always at the forefront of the investigation conducted by Dou and Pei Jing, but it does of course become very relevant in the conclusion, and I'd say that Konrondo is quite impressive in its themes regarding whodunnit and whydunnit: while the 'bare explanation' of why someone was killing all these people and ripping them open might sound a bit silly, Koizumi does a great job at themetically setting up this explanation, and once again it all feels very grounded in his depiction of the culture of Chang'an and its inhabitants' habits and beliefs. There are really clever hints and thematic mirrors throughout the tale and the ironic motive for cutting up the bodies is fantastic: it plays so well with a certain piece of misdirection that is thrown at the reader constantly, but when you realize how that piece of misdirection actually works as a hint too, you start to see that a lot of what makes Konrondo works as a mystery, is it's actually a very straightforward mystery, but set in a world that is not straightforward (seen from the POV of the modern reader). This is definitely one of those mysteries you can't judge based on an isolated look at the main mystery/trick, the core mystery plot only works because of all the talk around it that help set it up. It is a motive that only works in this world, and that is what makes this a very memorable read. The ending by the way adds a more fantastical, almost fairy-tale-like epilogue, a reminder of the direct inspiration of this novel.

Which does remind me, this book definitely takes the opposite position compared to van Gulik's Judge Dee stories when it comes to trying to be an easy read. Whereas van Gulik will always try to present his China in a very accessible manner, avoiding Chinese terms and using simple accessible translations/equivalent words instead, Koizumi constantly drops references to Chinese literature and culture, using the original Chinese terms. Van Gulik's writings might sometimes feel a bit anachronistic because he'll use very English (Dutch) terms to describe certain things, but Koizumi is on the other side of the spectrum, with every other page dropping a certain term, immediately followed by two paragraphs where he will explain that term, and then the very next sentence, he will drop another term, so then he has to explain it again and again... That is another reason why the book does feel rather slow, as Koizumi constantly stops to explain that term he just dropped. Some readers might be more bothered by this than others, so it can't hurt to keep this in mind.

So while a lot of the mystery when taken in isolation isn't really remarkable, Konrondo as a whole is a very memorable story, which uses its historical setting to its fullest to bring a tale of mystery that could only work in this specific time and culture. While at times, the book can feel very slow because it spends so much time just at... explaining things about the time/culture, it's ultimately necessary knowledge to solve the mystery of the serial killings and the disappearance of the gold, and on the whole, I think it's a really well-written novel that feels original due to its seldom-seen setting and the specific themes it touches upon.

Original Japanese title(s):  古泉迦十『崑崙奴』