If you are interested in detective mysteries, do consider reading the Judge Dee series. Judge Dee is a famous magistrate-detective, justly described as “the Sherlock Holmes of ancient China”. This character is based on a real person who was born and worked during the seventh century in Liang (south-east) China. The first book, Dee Goong An (English title: Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee), was translated from Chinese and further books were written and illustrated by Robert Hans van Gulik as historical novels set in ancient China.

Judge Dee has Liang Hoong (referred to as “Sergeant Hoong”) as his trusted adviser, and Ma Joong as first lieutenant to assist him. He was known as a magistrate (an official responsible for catching criminals as well as sentencing them) and dealt with mysteries usually involving one or more murders. As these events took place more than a thousand years ago, Judge Dee had to use his own powers of observation and ingenuity to solve the mysteries.

Note that there are conflicting views about the numbering of the books in the series. To find the books, visit this page.

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