Judge Dee and the Mystery of the Missing Manuscript ★★★★☆

The Vampire Library has few rules, but those they have they take deadly serious.  

Unfortunately, Judge Dee is late returning his book - seven hundred years late.

“Death!” the monks chanted. “Death to the unlawful borrower of books!  Death to the late returner!”

“That seems a bit excessive,” Drago of Carpathia said. “He did bring it back!”

The monks hissed at him…

“Seven hundred years of torture, then!”

It was funny to see Judge Dee in the hot seat, to see him penitent yet, as always, clever.  

And yes, there was also a murder mystery.  And again, the ending needed another sentence or two to grab another star.

Read it for yourself: https://www.tor.com/2022/11/09/judge-dee-and-the-mystery-of-the-missing-manuscript-lavie-tidhar/