Judge Dee at Work

{{short description|1967 collection of short stories by Robert van Gulik}}

{{infobox book |

| name = Judge Dee at Work

| image = JudgeDeeAtWork.JPG

| caption = First edition

| author = Robert van Gulik

| cover_artist =

| series = Judge Dee

| genre = Gong'an fiction, Mystery, Detective novel, Crime

| published = Heinemann

| release_date = 1967

| media_type = Print

| pages = 174

| isbn =

| preceded_by = The Phantom of the Temple

| followed_by = Necklace and Calabash

}}{{More citations needed|date=April 2025}}

Judge Dee at Work is a collection of 8 gong'an detective short stories written by Robert van Gulik{{Cite web |title=Judge Dee at Work {{!}} ISBNdb |url=https://isbndb.com/book/9780434825516 |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=isbndb.com}} 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.

References

{{reflist}}