These eight stories, featuring the master-detective of Ancient China and his assistants Ma Joong, Sergeant Hoong and Chiao Tai, cover a decade during which the judge served in four different provinces of the T'ang Empire. From the suspected treason of a general in the Chinese army facing the Tartar hordes on the western frontier to the murder of a lonely poet in his garden pavilion in Han-yuan, the cases presented here are among the most memorable of Judge Dee's long and distinguished career.