The Monkey and the Tiger

infobox Book |
name = The Monkey and the Tiger


image_caption = University of Chicago Press - 1997
author = Robert van Gulik
cover_artist = Ed Lindlof
series = Judge Dee
genre = Mystery, Detective Novel
publisher = University of Chicago Press
release_date = 1965
media_type = Print (Paperback)
pages = 141 pp (paperback edition)
isbn = ISBN 0-226-84869-8
preceded_by = The Red Pavilion
followed_by = The Willow Pattern
crime-task-force = yes

"The Monkey and the Tiger" book pairs two unrelated short detective novels written by Robert van Gulik and set in Imperial China (roughly speaking the Tang Dynasty). Both stories are fictions based on the real character of Judge Dee (Ti Jen-chieh or Di Renjie), a magistrate and statesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly 630–700.

The book contains eight illustrations and a map, all by the author.

Plot introduction

The first story is called "The Morning of the Monkey" and is set in the fictional city of Han-yuan in the year 666. One morning a gibbon drops an emerald ring right at the entrance to Judge Dee's house. This leads to the discovery of a strangely mutilated body out in the nearby forest.

Han-yuan is the setting for several other Judge Dee stories including The Chinese Lake Murders and one of the stories from Judge Dee at Work.

The second story, called "The Night of the Tiger", takes place a decade later when Judge Dee is returning to the capital at Chang'an when bandits force Judge Dee to take cover in an isolated country house. There he must fight off the vicious cut-throats as well as solve a murder.