The Cases of Magistrate Shi

When a scholar arrives at court reporting the brutal murder and decapitation of his parents, Magistrate Shi faces a case that looks straightforward but soon reveals deeper layers of motive, revenge and moral disorder. Through careful interrogation, psychological insight and symbolic interpretation, the magistrate begins to unravel a web of hidden guilt. The opening of the complete three-volume edition.

The first complete and unabridged English translation of Shi Gong An, one of the foundational works of Chinese judicial fiction, in three volumes. Murder, corruption and deception in the courts of late imperial China, where justice means restoring the balance of society.