Although Robert van Gulik wrote Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee (aka, Dee Goong An) first, in the chronology of the Judge Dee series, The Chinese Gold Murders is the first book. Set in the year 663, Judge Dee becomes the magisrate of Peng-lai, a fictional district on the northeast coast of China. Judge Dee’s predecessor had been murdered so that’s the first priority of the investigation. A tiger is terrorizing the countryside, the ghost of the murdered magistrate appears, the body of a murdered monk has been placed in the wrong grave, and a prostitute delivers a secret message to Judge Dee. From this tangle of events, Judge Dee solves the crimes in his own quirky style with the help of his colorful staff. There are seventeen books in the Judge Dee series. I’ve read them all, loved them all, and recommend them unabashedly. Be warned: like potato chips, once you read one of these excellent books, you’ll find it nearly impossible to stop reading Judge Dee’s adventures.
Great cover! Who published that?
I’ve read a few of them.
Harper Paperbacks published six of the Judge Dee books with these cool covers. The University of Chicago editions just have plain white covers.
And I’ve read a few too. No idea there was this many.
The Judge Dee books are worth tracking down, Patti. The quality is consistently high throughout the series.
* Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee (originally Dee Goong An) (1941-1948 translated from Chinese by Van Gulik)
* The Chinese Maze Murders (originally written 1950, published in Japanese in 1951, published in English in 1957)
* The Chinese Bell Murders (originally written between 1953 and 1956, published in English in 1958)
* The Chinese Lake Murders (originally written between 1953 and 1956, published in English in 1960)
* The Chinese Gold Murders (first published in English in 1959)
* The Chinese Nail Murders (1961)
* The Haunted Monastery (1961)
* The Emperor’s Pearl (1963)
* The Lacquer Screen (1964)
* The Red Pavilion (1964)
* The Monkey and the Tiger, short stories (1965)
* The Willow Pattern (1965)
* Murder in Canton (1966)
* The Phantom of the Temple (1966)
* Judge Dee at Work, short stories (1967)
* Necklace and Calabash (1967)
* Poets and Murder (1968)
Great pick, George! I like these books a lot.
I’ve liked Judge Dee since Dover Press first published van Gulik’s first book in 1976.