Judge Dee at Work explained

Judge Dee at Work
Author:	Robert van Gulik
Genre:	Gong'an fiction, Mystery, Detective novel, Crime
Published:	Heinemann
Release Date:	1967
Media Type:	Print
Pages:	174
Preceded By:	The Phantom of the Temple
Followed By:	Necklace and Calabash

Judge Dee at Work is a collection of 8 gong'an detective short stories written by Robert van Gulik and set in Imperial China (roughly speaking the Tang dynasty). It is a fiction based on the real character of Judge Dee (Ti Jen-chieh or Di Renjie), a county magistrate and statesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly 630–700.

The book features eight illustrations by the author.

The book also has a postscript where the author places all the novels and stories into a coherent timeline for his semi-fictional character.

Overview

Judge Dee, a magistrate in Imperial China is a crime solver, a detective. In these stories Judge Dee solves a series of un-related crimes from different times in his career. There is no over-all narrative to these stories.

List of stories

1. "Five Auspicious Clouds" - set in the year 663 when Judge Dee was a magistrate of Peng-lai.
2. "The Red Tape Murder" - set in the year 663 when Judge Dee was a magistrate of Peng-lai.
3. "He Came With the Rain" - set in the year 663 was a magistrate of Peng-lai.
4. "The Murder on the Lotus Pond" - set in the year 666 when Judge Dee was a magistrate of Han-yuan.
5. "The Two Beggars" - set in the year 668 when Judge Dee was a magistrate of Poo-yang.
6. "The Wrong Sword" - set in the year 668 when Judge Dee was a magistrate of Poo-yang.
7. "The Coffins of the Emperor" - set in the year 670 when Judge Dee was a magistrate of Lan-fang.
8. "Murder on New Year's Eve" - set in the year 670 when Judge Dee was a magistrate of Lan-fang.