Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee ( Chinese : 狄公案 ; pinyin : Dí Gōng Àn ; lit. "Cases of Judge Dee"), also known as Di Gong An or Dee Goong An , is an 18th-century Chinese gong'an detective novel by an anonymous author, "Buti zhuanren" ( Chinese : 不题撰人). It is loosely based on the stories of Di Renjie ( Wade-Giles Ti Jen-chieh), a county magistrate and statesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly 630–700. Though set in Tang dynasty China, the novel also contains cultural elements from later dynasties. A translated version was released by Robert van Gulik in 1949; van Gulik would go on to write his own series of Judge Dee novels, starting with The Chinese Maze Murders .
37-534: Tombland is a historical mystery novel by British author C. J. Sansom . It is the seventh book in the Matthew Shardlake series , following 2014's Lamentation . Set in the summer of 1549, the story deals with the investigation of a murder in Norfolk . Matthew Shardlake is entrusted by Princess Elizabeth, later Elizabeth I , to investigate the murder of the wife of a distant relative of hers. During
74-591: A copy in a second-hand book store in Tokyo and translated the novel into English. He then used it as the basis to create his own original Judge Dee stories over the next 20 years. Van Gulik wrote: The translation was first privately printed on behalf of Van Gulik by the Toppan Printing Company of Tokyo, in a limited run of 1200 numbered signed copies. The translation features nine drawings, three copies from old Chinese art, and six illustrations by
111-421: A detective story in period costume". Many of Heyer's other historical romances have thriller elements but to a much lesser extent. Other variations include mystery novels set in alternate history timelines or even fantasy worlds. These would include The Ultimate Solution (1973) by Eric Norden and Fatherland (1992) by Robert Harris , both being police procedurals set in alternate timelines where
148-403: A distinct subgenre recognized by the publishing industry and libraries. Publishers Weekly noted in 2010 of the genre, "The past decade has seen an explosion in both quantity and quality. Never before have so many historical mysteries been published, by so many gifted writers, and covering such a wide range of times and places." Editor Keith Kahla concurs, "From a small group of writers with
185-438: A magistrate sentenced a person to death and the executed was afterwards proved to have been innocent, the magistrate would be himself executed - having made an honest mistake would not be sufficient to save him. Should an innocent person die under torture, both the judge ordering the torture and all members of staff administering the torture would suffer capital punishment - and members of Dee's staff urging him to cease torture when
222-574: A series of novels featuring Sergeant Cribb , a Victorian -era police detective, and Elizabeth Peters 's Amelia Peabody series (1975–2010) followed the adventures of the titular Victorian lady/ archaeologist as she solved mysteries surrounding her excavations in early 20th century Egypt . But historical mystery stories remained an oddity until the late 1970s, with the success of Ellis Peters and her Cadfael Chronicles (1977–1994), featuring Benedictine monk Brother Cadfael and set in 12th century Shrewsbury . Umberto Eco 's one-off The Name of
259-469: A time period considered historical from the author's perspective, and the central plot involves the solving of a mystery or crime (usually murder). Though works combining these genres have existed since at least the early 20th century, many credit Ellis Peters 's Cadfael Chronicles (1977–1994) for popularizing what would become known as the historical mystery. The increasing popularity and prevalence of this type of fiction in subsequent decades has spawned
296-848: A toehold on the New York Times bestseller list ." In 1999, the British Crime Writers' Association awarded the first CWA Historical Dagger award to a novel in the genre. The award was called the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger through 2012. In 2014, Endeavour Press supported the award, which is called the Endeavour Historical Dagger for the 2014 and 2015 awards. The Left Coast Crime conference has presented its Bruce Alexander Memorial Historical Mystery award (for mysteries set prior to 1950) since 2004. In an early twist of
333-522: A very specialized audience, the historical mystery has become a critically acclaimed, award-winning genre with a toehold on the New York Times bestseller list ." Since 1999, the British Crime Writers' Association has awarded the CWA Historical Dagger award to novels in the genre. The Left Coast Crime conference has presented its Bruce Alexander Memorial Historical Mystery award (for mysteries set prior to 1950) since 2004. Though
370-455: A witness or suspect, up to and including the extraction of a confession by torture. In contrast, making a false judgement could be far more perilous to a magistrate like Dee than to a modern western judge. Exhuming a dead body without proving the dead person was murdered would be an act of sacrilege which would cost the Judge his job (which very nearly happens to Dee in the course of the book). If
407-458: Is far from universal among District Judges. Others of Dee's colleagues might have been more lenient with a suspected murderer when he was a member of a rich family and an outstanding student of literature; or would not have exerted themselves to catch the murderer of a "small" shop-keeper in a minor provincial town; or would have thought more of lining their own pockets than of seeing justice done. Judge Dee's honesty and probity were proverbial - which
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#1732772766203444-734: Is less successful in passing himself off as a merchant, a member of a completely different social class; an observant merchant quickly unmasks him as what he is, a member of the Literati elite. Fortunately, it turns out that this observant merchant is not the wanted criminal; on the contrary, he is an honest merchant, with his own accounts to settle with the criminal, and becomes a very valuable ally. Judge Dee acts according to very strict ethics, regarding himself as duty bound to enforce justice, seek out, and severely punish all wrong-doers, high or low. Some remarks made by various characters and references made to other magistrates make clear that Dee's conduct
481-631: Is prolix and repetitious, the plot is clumsy and the characters badly drawn. Further, while Part I is written with considerable restraint, in part II there occur passages which are plain pornography , e.g. where the relations of the Empress Wu with the priest Huai-i are described". Moreover, Part II did not describe a detective investigation at all, but rather dealt mainly with court intrigues and power struggles - and thus did not serve Van Gulik's aim of presenting Chinese crime fiction to Western readers. For all these reasons Van Gulik decided to translate
518-453: Is sometimes useful - especially when suspects are to be overawed and intimidated, or recalcitrant local officials intimidated into fully cooperating with an investigation. Sometimes, however, Judge Dee finds it expedient to go out incognito and carry out an investigation in disguise. He carries off very well the disguise of an itinerant physician; as Van Gulik points out, knowledge of medicine was expected of Chinese literati. Conversely, Judge Dee
555-633: Is the furthest in the past a historical mystery has been set to date. Diana Gabaldon began the Lord John series in 1998, casting a recurring secondary character from her Outlander series , Lord John Grey , as a nobleman-military officer-amateur detective in 18th century England . Using the pen name Ariana Franklin, Diana Norman wrote four Mistress of the Art of Death novels between 2007 and 2010, featuring 12th-century English medical examiner Adelia Aguilar . Publishers Weekly noted in 2010 of
592-403: Is why tales were told of him even more than a thousand years after his death. " Dee Goong An is the genuine article, dating from the 18th century and barely modified by the translator to make it intelligible today. Like his modern fictions, it adroitly intertwines three plots and shows the judge and his aides in their now familiar guise. The introduction and notes (including Chinese ideograms for
629-569: The Lord Peter Wimsey books by Dorothy L. Sayers set in the Interwar period . However, subsequent Holmes and Wimsey books written by other authors decades later could arguably be classified as historical mysteries. The following list consists of fictional historical detectives in chronological order of their time period setting: Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee The Dutch sinologist and diplomat Robert van Gulik came across
666-760: The Nazis won World War II ; Randall Garrett 's Lord Darcy series, taking place in a 20th-century in which magic is possible; and Phyllis Ann Karr 's The Idylls of the Queen (1982), set in King Arthur 's court as depicted in Arthurian myth and with no attempt at historical accuracy. The genre would not include fiction which was contemporary at the time of writing, such as Arthur Conan Doyle 's canonical Sherlock Holmes works set in Victorian England , or
703-879: The Roman Republic in the 1st century BC; and Paul Doherty 's various series, including the Hugh Corbett medieval mysteries (1986–2010), the Sorrowful Mysteries of Brother Athelstan (1991–2012), and the Canterbury Tales of Mystery and Murder (1994–2012). For Mike Ashley 's The Mammoth Book of Historical Detectives (1995), F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre wrote "Death in the Dawntime", a locked room mystery (or rather, sealed cave mystery) set in Australia around 35,000 BC, which Ashley suggests
740-521: The 19th century version the best and basing his translation mainly on it. The part which Van Gulik translated describes Judge Dee simultaneously solving three difficult criminal cases, culminating with his being rewarded by promotion to the Imperial court (which, Van Gulik notes, was the traditional culmination of a Chinese story about an official). The later 34 chapters described events at the Court (where
777-486: The 22 Uncle Abner tales Post wrote between 1911 and 1928, the character puzzles out local mysteries with his keen observation and knowledge of the Bible. It was not until 1943 that American mystery writer Lillian de la Torre did something similar in the story "The Great Seal of England", casting 18th century literary figures Samuel Johnson and James Boswell into Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson roles in what would become
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#1732772766203814-655: The Rose (1980) also helped popularize the concept, and starting in 1979, author Anne Perry wrote two series of Victorian era mysteries featuring Thomas Pitt (1979–2013) and William Monk (1990–2013). However it was not until about 1990 that the genre's popularity expanded significantly with works such as Lindsey Davis 's Falco and Flavia Albia novels (1989–2022), set in the Roman Empire of Vespasian ; John Maddox Roberts 's SPQR series (1990–2010) and Steven Saylor 's Roma Sub Rosa novels (1991–2018), both set in
851-537: The author. As carefully noted in his scholarly postscript, the present book is in fact a translation of only about half (31 out of 65 chapters) of a Chinese book in Van Gulik's possession, entitled "Four Great Strange Cases of Empress Wu's Reign". Van Gulik obtained three editions of that book – a 19th-century manuscript and two printed editions, published respectively in 1903 and in 1947 at Shanghai. There were many differences between variant texts, Van Gulik considering
888-403: The case describes the hazardous life of the traveling silk merchant and a murder which is committed to gain wealth. The second, "The Strange Corpse", takes place in a small village and addresses a crime of passion which proves hard to solve. The criminal is a very determined woman. The third case, "The Poisoned Bride", addresses the poisoning of a local scholar's daughter, who marries the son of
925-654: The course of the investigation Shardlake gets involved in Kett's Rebellion . The title comes from the Tombland area of Norwich which is situated just outside Norwich Cathedral . Tombland's etymology is Danish in origin meaning 'empty space' or 'open land', and in the 11th century the area was home to an Anglo-Scandinavian marketplace. Historical characters portrayed in the novel include: Fictional characters include: Critical reception for Tombland has been positive. Stephanie Merritt writing for The Guardian commented that
962-532: The first of her Dr. Sam: Johnson, Detector series of stories. In 1944, Agatha Christie published Death Comes as the End , a mystery novel set in ancient Egypt and the first full-length historical whodunit. In 1950, John Dickson Carr published the second full-length historical mystery novel called The Bride of Newgate , set at the close of the Napoleonic Wars . In 1970, Peter Lovesey began
999-571: The first part only. The title given, "Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee", is what Van Gulik assumed the original work was called, before the second part was added. However, he never actually obtained a copy of that original work or a conclusive evidence that it had existed under that name. The second part, of which Van Gulik so strongly disapproved, was apparently never translated - leaving western readers with no way of independently evaluating Van Gulik's scathing criticism. There are three cases in this book. The first might be called "The Double Murder at Dawn";
1036-420: The former administrator of the district and dies mysteriously on her wedding night. This case contains a surprising twist in its solution. All three cases are solved by Judge Dee, the district magistrate, detective, prosecutor, judge, and jury all wrapped up into one person. His powers are vast, and some of the things he can do would be manifestly illegal in a Western judicial system - such as grossly intimidating
1073-505: The genre, Josephine Tey 's The Daughter of Time (1951) features a modern police detective who alleviates an extended hospital stay by investigating the 15th century case of Richard III of England and the Princes in the Tower . Georgette Heyer 's The Talisman Ring (1936), set in 1793 England, is a Regency romance with elements of mystery that Jane Aiken Hodge called "very nearly
1110-399: The genre, "The past decade has seen an explosion in both quantity and quality. Never before have so many historical mysteries been published, by so many gifted writers, and covering such a wide range of times and places." Editor Keith Kahla concurs, "From a small group of writers with a very specialized audience, the historical mystery has become a critically acclaimed, award-winning genre with
1147-841: The historical Di Renjie of the Tang dynasty (618–907) and Bao Zheng of the Song dynasty (960–1279)—investigate cases and then as judges determine guilt and punishment. The stories were set in the past but contained many anachronisms . Robert van Gulik came across the 18th century anonymously written Chinese manuscript Di Gong An , in his view closer to the Western tradition of detective fiction than other gong'an tales and so more likely to appeal to non-Chinese readers, and in 1949 published it in English as Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee . He subsequently wrote his own Judge Dee stories (1951–1968) in
Tombland - Misplaced Pages Continue
1184-406: The historical Judge Dee is known to have been a valued adviser to Empress Wu , though his career suffered various ups and downs). Based on textual analysis, Van Gulik became convinced that the second part was a later addition written by "a person of feeble talents". As stated in the postscript, "Part I is written in a fairly compact style and cleverly composed. The style of part II, on the contrary,
1221-467: The novel is 'more of a grand historical epic than a tightly packed whodunnit.' In a similar vein Andrew Taylor writing for The Spectator praised the book as 'a Tudor epic disguised as an historical crime novel.' Historical mystery The historical mystery or historical whodunit is a subgenre of two literary genres , historical fiction and mystery fiction . These works are set in
1258-623: The same style and time period. Perhaps the first modern English work that can be classified as both historical fiction and a mystery however is the 1911 Melville Davisson Post story "The Angel of the Lord", which features amateur detective Uncle Abner in pre- American Civil War West Virginia . Barry Zeman of the Mystery Writers of America calls the Uncle Abner short stories "the starting point for true historical mysteries." In
1295-446: The small-scale shopkeepers and townspeople, who live within a narrow circumscribed life of routine which some find stifling; the gentry of literati, who by long tradition were considered as the land's rulers and so considered themselves. Any official departure of Judge Dee from the court compound (which also includes his private living quarters) is done with fanfare, accompanied by a large retinue of constables and officials. This approach
1332-402: The suspect proves obdurate shows they are aware of that dire risk to themselves. The three cases offer a glimpse into the lives of different classes in traditional Chinese society: adventurous traders who travel vast distances along the trade routes up and down the land of China, and who are sometimes targeted by robbers and sometimes form dubious partnerships or turn outright robbers themselves;
1369-433: The term "whodunit" was coined sometime in the early 1930s, it has been argued that the detective story itself has its origins as early as the 429 BC Sophocles play Oedipus Rex and the 10th century tale " The Three Apples " from One Thousand and One Nights ( Arabian Nights ). During China 's Ming dynasty (1368–1644), gong'an ("crime-case") folk novels were written in which government magistrates —primarily
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