The Stone Lion and Other Chinese Detective Stories: The Wisdom of Lord Bau

Like morality plays wrapped in parabolic essays, these 10 tales illustrate the fair but often harsh justice dispensed by the legendary Lord Bau Jeng, a prefect during the Sung Dynasty nearly 1000 years ago. Somewhat entertaining even though lacking a vivid sense of time or place, each story extensively details the circumstances of a crime and then comes to an abrupt, rather simplistic conclusion. In ``Millstone Street,'' a lowly laborer rises on the social ladder by killing a traveling silk salesman. A generation later, the victim's skull is brought to the surface of a lake; the resourceful Bau, determining the murder weapon to be a stone from a still-standing wall, deduces the killer's identity. ``The True Mother'' features a peasant girl's transformation from prostitute to second wife; her trial for her husband's murder is resolved in a judgment that recalls those of the biblical Solomon. The folktale quality of these stories will make them more appealing to readers interested in their cultural insights than to mystery fans. Illustrations. (Oct.)