The Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee

Original Chinese Mysteries

By: Robert Van Gulik

Narrated by: Norman Dietz

He has much in common with super-sleuths Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, but there's a difference - Judge Dee Jen-djieh was a real person! Gathered here are tales of actual crimes solved by the magistrate of Chang-ping in 7th-century China. Listen as Dee ventures down winding paths in ancient graveyards to consult the spirits of the dead, and hear him solve real-life crimes through astute deductions. The intriguing stories in this collection include "The Case of the Double Murder at Dawn," "The Case of the Strange Corpse" and "The Case of the Poisoned Bride."

Public Domain (P)1989 Recorded Books, Inc.

very interesting.

The stories are very descriptive of China over 1,000 years ago.
It lets us look at how the average person lived and the strict codes of conduct for each class.
The lives of innkeeper, silk merchants, students, tutors, shopkeepers, policemen, court personnel
and the judge are laid bare as we peek behind the veil of time.
Each vignette is a complete story in itself, strung together like an intricate necklace.

The narrator's voice is strong and steady, adding weight to the serious actions described throughout.

Robert Van Gulik translated many Judge Dee books. I wish more were recorded for Audible.

I wish there were more recordings of other books

At one time I owned all the printed books available, and read them again and again. I leant them to a friend, and never saw them again.
This was a great performance and a great story—thanks!

A delightful sojurn to ancient China

For those who are interested in ancient Chinese history and culture, the Judge Dee novels are a delight, and so is this recorded book of Robert Van Gulic's novel. Norman Dietz''s narration is first rate, he brings each character to life, and his line readings are invariably rich in nuance and tone.4

Awesome crime/mystery stories

Robert Van Gulik's Judge Dee stories are wonderful crime/mystery stories. They flow very well. They give you an insight into how life was from the commoner to the upper class in China during the Tang Dynasty (618-906 AD/CE). The stories are about the district judge/magistrate Di Renjie and the court cases/mysteries that he solves in the different district posts that he holds.

I was introduced to the character from the movie "Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon". When I realized it was based off of a book, I hunted down the author and read all the books. I LOVED them.

The only down side is the narrator gives the judge a british sounding voice. It would have been better with someone narrating with a voice that sounded more asian in its inflections.

A chinese sleuth in ancient china.

If you could sum up The Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee in three words, what would they be?

Authentic, singular, exotic

What did you like best about this story?

Classic whodunit that keeps you guess! It satisfies the requisite who, why,
& how!

Have you listened to any of Norman Dietz’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Entertained

Interesting

Piece of history. Rather pedantic delivery, but amazing to hear a much older example of detective fiction.

one of my all-time favorite books!

I love this book. this is one of the few books in my collection that I can pick up at any point in anytime no matter how I'm feeling and just feel good and have a lot of fun reading or listening to it. I think this is a must-read or listen anybody that is interested in detective stories or Chinese culture.

A different legal thriller

Because this is a traditional Chinese legal thriller, it would be best if you listened to the explanation of the differences between American/European crime stories and traditional Chinese detective stories. The translator has a 40 minute appendix describing the various devices within the traditional Chinese detective novel and it is VERY helpful. His appendix begins at 7:42:15.