In this, the second book in Robert van Gulik's classic mystery series of ancient China, Judge Dee must look into the murder of his predecessor. His job is complicated by the simultaneous disappearance of his chief clerk and the new bride of a wealthy local shipowner. Meanwhile, a tiger is terrorizing the district, the ghost of the murdered magistrate stalks the tribunal, a prostitute has a secret message for Dee, and the body of a murdered monk is discovered to be in the wrong grave. In the end, the judge, with his deft powers of deduction, uncovers the one cause for all of these seemingly unrelated events.

The Chinese Gold Murders: A Judge Dee Detective Story (Judge Dee Mysteries)

Literature & Fiction

Van Gulik, Robert

United States

Harper-perennial

Meet Judge Dee, the detective lauded as the "Sherlock Holmes of ancient China"
Fans of Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series will thrill to this reissue of the first volume in Robert van Gulik's classic Chinese Murders series. The Chinese Bell Murders introduces the great Judge Dee, a magistrate of the city of Poo-yang in ancient China.
In the spirit of ancient Chinese detective novels, Judge Dee is challenged by three cases. First, he must solve the mysterious murder of Pure Jade, a young girl living on Half Moon Street. All the evidence points to the guilt of 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.

The Chinese Bell Murders: A Judge Dee Detective Story

Genre Fiction

In the fourth installment of Robert Van Gulik's ancient Chinese mystery series based on historical court records, detective Judge Dee is appointed to the magistrate of Pei-chow - a distant frontier district in the barren north of the ancient Chinese Empire. It is here that he is faced with three strange and disturbing crimes: the theft of precious jewels, the disappearance of a girl in love, and the fiendish murder involving the nude, headless body of a woman. And even more curious, the crimes seem to be linked together by clues from a popular game of the period, the Seven Board. "A delight to the connoisseur" (San Francisco Chronicle), The Chinese Nail Murders was first published in the 1950s. Timeless and exotic, it is now reissued by Perennial and includes charming illustrations and an epilogue that details the origins of each case and how the author discovered them.

The Chinese Nail Murders: A Judge Dee Detective Story

Literary

In the third installment of Robert Van Gulik's classic ancient Chinese mystery series based on historical court records, magistrate, lawyer, and detective Judge Dee has his work cut out for him. Set in 666 A.D., in the hidden city of Han-yuan, sixty miles from the imperial capital of ancient China, Dee is sent to investigate a case of embezzlement of government funds. But things are about to get more complicated for the great detective. Just before he is about to take leave of Han-yuan, the popular courtesan Almond Blossom disappears, and then a bride who dies on her wedding night also disappears from her coffin -- her body replaced with that of a murdered man. To make matters worse, Judge Dee is confronted with the dangerous sect called the White Lotus.

The Chinese Lake Murders: A Judge Dee Detective Story

The Chinese Bell Murders

The Chinese Bell Murders describes the Judge's exploits in the tribunal of Poo-yang early in his career. He has one case left over from his predecessor—the brutal rape-murder of Pure Jade, the daughter of Butcher Hsai who lived on Half Moon Street. Her lover has been accused and is on the verge of being convicted, but Judge Dee senses that all is not right and sets out with his lieutenants to find the real murderer. "So scrupulously in the classic Chinese manner yet so nicely equipped with everything to satisfy the modern reader."—New York Times Robert Van Gulik (1910-67) was a Dutch diplomat and an authority on Chinese history and culture. He drew his plots from the whole body of Chinese literature, especially from the popular detective novels that first appeared in the seventeenth century.

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mystery

University of Chicago Press

Judge Dee and his four helpers solve the murders of an honored merchant, a kindly boxing master, and a paper merchant's wife, whose corpse has no head. They succeed in spite of strong pressure on Judge Dee from higher-ups to bring his investigation, which has temporarily generated unrest among the populace, rapidly to an end or face dismissal and serious punishment. The case of the headless corpse is based on a thirteenth-century Chinese casebook; the nail murder, one of the most famous motifs in Chinese crime literature, is first described in the same text. "So scrupulously in the classic Chinese manner yet so nicely equipped with everything to satisfy the modern reader."—New York Times Robert Van Gulik (1910-67) was a Dutch diplomat and an authority on Chinese history and culture. He drew his plots from the whole body of Chinese literature, especially from the popular detective novels that first appeared in the seventeenth century.

The Chinese Nail Murders

The Chinese Gold Murders

Soon after taking up his first magisterial post in the godforsaken district of Peng-lai, Judge Dee must look into the murder of his predecessor. His job is complicated by the simultaneous disappearnce of his chief clerk and the new bride of a wealthy local shipowner. "The China of old, in Mr. van Gulik's skilled hands, comes vividly alive again."—Allen J. Hubin, New York Times Book Review "If you have not yet discovered Judge Dee, I envy you that initial pleasure . . . the discovery of a great detective story. For the magistrate of Poo-yan belongs in that select group headed by Sherlock Holmes."—Robert Kirsch, Los Angeles Times Robert van Gulik (1910-67), a Dutch diplomat and an authority on Chinese history and culture, drew his plots from the popular detective novels that appeared in seventeenth-century China.

The Chinese Lake Murders describes how Judge Dee solves three difficult cases in A.D. 666, shortly after he has been appointed magistrate of Han-yuan. "[Robert van Gulik] deftly interweaves three criminal cases involving exotic yet universally recognizable characters, then has his Judge Dee provide a surprising yet most plausible solution."—New York Times Book Review

The Chinese Lake Murders

The eight short stories in Judge Dee at Work cover a decade during which the judge served in four different provinces of the T’ang Empire. From the suspected treason of a general in the Chinese army to the murder of a lonely poet in his garden pavilion, the cases here are among the most memorable in the Judge Dee series.

Judge Dee at Work: Eight Chinese Detective Stories (Judge Dee Mysteries)

Contemporary

Early in his career, Judge Dee visits a senior magistrate who shows him a beautiful lacquer screen on which a scene of lovers has been mysteriously altered to show the man stabbing his lover. The magistrate fears he is losing his mind and will murder his own wife. Meanwhile, a banker has inexplicably killed himself, and a lovely lady has allowed Dee's lieutenant, Chiao Tai, to believe she is a courtesan. Dee and Chiao Tai go incognito among a gang of robbers to solve this mystery, and find the leader of the robbers is more honorable than the magistrate. "One of the most satisfyingly devious of the Judge Dee novels, with unusual historical richness in its portrayal of the China of the T'ang dynasty."-—New York Times Book Review "Even Judge Dee is baffled by Robert van Gulik's new mysteries in The Lacquer Screen. Disguised as a petty crook, he spends a couple of precarious days in the headquarters of the underworld, hobnobbing with the robber king. Dee's lively thieving friends furnish some vital clues to this strange and fascinating jigsaw."-—The Spectator "So scrupulously in the classic Chinese manner yet so nicely equipped with everything to satisfy the modern reader."-—New York Times Robert Van Gulik (1910-67) was a Dutch diplomat and an authority on Chinese history and culture. He drew his plots from the whole body of Chinese literature, especially from the popular detective novels that first appeared in the seventeenth century.

The Lacquer Screen: A Chinese Detective Story (A Judge Dee Mystery)

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