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
Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee / Dee Goong An | (1949) | |
The Chinese Bell Murders | (1958) | |
The Chinese Gold Murders | (1959) | |
The Chinese Lake Murders | (1960) | |
The Chinese Nail Murders | (1961) | |
The Haunted Monastery | (1961) | |
The Red Pavilion | (1961) | |
The Chinese Maze Murders | (1962) | |
The Lacquer Screen | (1962) | |
The Emperor’s Pearl | (1963) | |
The Monkey and The Tiger | (1965) | |
The Phantom of the Temple | (1965) | |
The Willow Pattern | (1965) | |
Murder in Canton | (1966) | |
Judge Dee at Work | (1967) | |
Necklace and Calabash | (1967) | |
Poets and Murder / The Fox-Magic Murders | (1968) |
Chronological Order of Judge Dee Mysteries Books
Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee / Dee Goong An | (1949) | The Chinese Gold Murders | (1959) | The Lacquer Screen | (1962) | Judge Dee at Work | (1967) | The Chinese Lake Murders | (1960) | The Monkey and The Tiger | (1965) | The Haunted Monastery | (1961) | The Chinese Bell Murders | (1958) | The Red Pavilion | (1961) | The Emperor’s Pearl | (1963) | Poets and Murder / The Fox-Magic Murders | (1968) | Necklace and Calabash | (1967) | The Chinese Maze Murders | (1962) | The Phantom of the Temple | (1965) | The Chinese Nail Murders | (1961) | The Willow Pattern | (1965) | Murder in Canton | (1966) |
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.