Order of Judge Dee Mysteries Books
Judge Dee Mysteries is a series of historical mystery novels and short story collections by Dutch novelist Robert Van Gulik. The series began simply as a translation that Van Gulik did for a Chinese novel entitled Dee Goong An, but the translation got Van Gulik’s interest in continuing the Chinese detective fiction genre. He decided that it would be easy to take old Chinese cases and write them for the modern reader. The character of Judge Dee was based on a real-life statesman/detective named Di Renjie from the 7th century.
Robert Van Gulik began his Judge Dee Mysteries series with the translation of Dee Goong An, entitled Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee, which was published in 1949. The series lasted a total of 17 books (including the translation), concluding with Poets and Murder in 1968. Below is a list of Robert Van Gulik’s books in order of when they were originally published (as well as in chronological order):
Publication Order of Judge Dee Mysteries Books
Chronological Order of Judge Dee Mysteries Books
Notes: Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee was originally published in Chinese as Dee Goong An by an unknown author, and translated by Robert Van Gulik. Poets and Murder was also published as The Fox-Magic Murders.
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Judge Dee Mysteries Synopsis: In The Chinese Bell Murders by Robert Van Gulik, Judge Dee has three cases to solve. First, he must solve the murder of Pure Jade, a young girl living on Half Moon Street. The evidence points to the murderer being her lover, but Judge Dee has his doubts. Dee also solves the mystery of a deserted temple and that of a group of monks’ terrific success with a cure for barren women.