The order you need ideally to read the books in is gold, lake, haunted monastery, bell, maze, nail. I can't remember the rest off hand, but the final book in the series is Murder in Canton. A very sad ending. I discovered them fifty years ago as a 9yo and fell in love with the series. I now own them all, paper and electronic, and heartily recommend them. To fully understand then ideally you also need to read Parallel Cases from Under the Pear Tree, a book of Chinese Jurisprudence (still used by writers today as themes for modern crime novels).
I found some judge Dee books translated into Czech back from the time when communist Czechoslovakia was still a thing in an old bookshelf in my attic and I have to say that its much more entertaining than any modern crime fiction ive ever read. The modern continuation by Fréderic Lenormand is also quite decent but its missing something that I cant really point out .. mister Guliks attention to detail simply cannot be rivaled.
I believe only one episode of Judge Dee still exists. Did Judge Dee at Work (collection of short stories) and Necklace and Calabash not come out in UK paperback? You’re missing those two titles. Enjoyed the video very much!
I rewatched the video to make sure but those aren't mentioned - Poets and Murder you mention under an alternate title but not these two - Judge Dee at Work has 8 short stories and Necklace and Calabash was the very last novel van Gulik published. So you may have a couple more of them to enjoy!
A Chinese friend turned me onto Judge Dee back in the 70s. Never could locate all the books. Located one in NY a ear ago. Musteries fused with other cultural and historical info are a draw for me. Love the Laura Joh Rowland stories (1990s Edo period samurai detective).
there is one you missed for the sake of completeness ...judge dee at work a collection of 6 short stories but also handily has a timeline for all his cases .
The order you need ideally to read the books in is gold, lake, haunted monastery, bell, maze, nail. I can't remember the rest off hand, but the final book in the series is Murder in Canton. A very sad ending. I discovered them fifty years ago as a 9yo and fell in love with the series. I now own them all, paper and electronic, and heartily recommend them. To fully understand then ideally you also need to read Parallel Cases from Under the Pear Tree, a book of Chinese Jurisprudence (still used by writers today as themes for modern crime novels).
Fantastic information, thanks Karen🙂
I think I have all of them...in different editions...great reads is right!
Great stuff David👍
Detective Dee is a household name in China. Gulik’s mandarin translation works are also good read. I finished them in high school, over 10 years ago
Fantastic, thanks for the info🙂
Another wonderful video, thanks.
Thanks Gary, these are great books.
Good show!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I found some judge Dee books translated into Czech back from the time when communist Czechoslovakia was still a thing in an old bookshelf in my attic and I have to say that its much more entertaining than any modern crime fiction ive ever read. The modern continuation by Fréderic Lenormand is also quite decent but its missing something that I cant really point out .. mister Guliks attention to detail simply cannot be rivaled.
Absolutely, thanks for that. I've not read any other than those written by van Gulik.
I believe only one episode of Judge Dee still exists. Did Judge Dee at Work (collection of short stories) and Necklace and Calabash not come out in UK paperback? You’re missing those two titles. Enjoyed the video very much!
They did get published under the different titles and are included in the video, thanks.
I rewatched the video to make sure but those aren't mentioned - Poets and Murder you mention under an alternate title but not these two - Judge Dee at Work has 8 short stories and Necklace and Calabash was the very last novel van Gulik published. So you may have a couple more of them to enjoy!
A Chinese friend turned me onto Judge Dee back in the 70s. Never could locate all the books. Located one in NY a ear ago.
Musteries fused with other cultural and historical info are a draw for me. Love the Laura Joh Rowland stories
(1990s Edo period samurai detective).
Nice, I can't imagine you'd have any ttouble finding them now. They are great and still hold up well today.
there is one you missed for the sake of completeness ...judge dee at work a collection of 6 short stories but also handily has a timeline for all his cases .
Ah, thanks, who published that one first in paperback in the UK please?
@@JulesBurt heinmann sid the hatdback and i think penguin the paoerback.
🙂