"A fiendishly clever puzzle mystery starring the beloved detective Judge Dee, whom the Los Angeles Times ranked with Sherlock Holmes
Necklace and Calabash finds Judge Dee returning to his district of Poo-yang, where the peaceful town of Riverton promises a few days' fishing and relaxation. Yet a chance meeting with a Taoist recluse, a gruesome body fished out of the river, strange guests at the Kingfisher Inn, and a princess in distress thrust the judge into one of the most intricate and baffling mysteries of his career.
This audiobook is expertly read by Peter Kim, with audio engineering by Sam Platt. It was produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont."
"'The magistrate of Poo-yang belongs in the select group of fictional detectives headed by the renowned Sherlock Holmes.' —Robert Kirsch, Los Angeles Times
'The China of old, in Mr. van Gulik's skilled hands, comes vividly alive again.' —Allen J. Hubin, The New York Times Book Review
'Entertaining, instructive, and impressive.' —Times Literary Supplement
Judge Dee and his entourage, seeking refuge from a mountain storm, become trapped in a Taoist monastery, where the Abbott Jade mysteriously dies after delivering an ecstatic sermon. The monks call it a supernatural experience, but the judge calls it murder.
Recalling the allegedly accidental deaths of three young women in the same monastery, Judge Dee seeks clues in the eyes of a cat to solve cases of impersonation and murder. A painting by one of the victims reveals the truth about the killings, propelling the judge on a quest for justice and revenge.
This audiobook is expertly read by Peter Kim, with audio engineering by Sam Platt. It was produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, LLC, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont."
"A double murder confounds everyone in this mystery--but not the beloved detective Judge Dee, whom the Los Angeles Times ranked with Sherlock Holmes
Judge Dee, the master detective of seventh-century China, sets out to solve a puzzling double murder and discovers complex passions lurking beneath the placid surface of academic life. A mild-mannered student is rumored to have been slain by a fox-demon, while a young dancer meets her death as she dresses to perform for the magistrate's illustrious dinner guests—an obese Zen monk revered for his calligraphy, a beautiful poetess accused of murder, and the past president of the imperial academy. To connect the present crimes with betrayals and adulteries from decades past, the clever judge must visit a high-class brothel and the haunted shrine of the Black Fox. From the moment the young scholar is found dead on the eve of the Autumn Festival, the pace never lets up.
This audiobook is expertly read by Peter Kim, with audio engineering by Sam Platt. It was produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, LLC, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont."
"Two mysteries set in seventh-century China featuring Judge Dee, 'a great detective in the noblest tradition . . . perceptive [and] ever fascinating.'—The New York Times
The Monkey and The Tiger includes two detective stories, 'The Morning of the Monkey' and 'The Night of the Tiger,' based on a real-life judge in T'ang Dynasty China who became legendary for his crime-solving skills. In the first story, a gibbon drops an emerald in the open gallery of Judge Dee's official residence, leading the magistrate to discover a strangely mutilated body in the woods—and investigate how it got there. In the second, Dee is traveling to the imperial capital to assume a new position when he is separated from his escort by a flood. Marooned in a large country house surrounded by fierce bandits, Dee confronts an apparition that helps him solve a mystery.
'If you have not yet discovered Judge Dee, I envy you that initial pleasure. [He] belongs in that select group of fictional detectives headed by Sherlock Holmes. I assure you it is a compliment not given frivolously.' —Los Angeles Times
This audiobook is expertly read by Peter Kim, with audio engineering by Sam Platt. It was produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont."
"A fiendishly clever, yet cozy entry in the much-loved mystery series starring Judge Dee, whom the Los Angeles Times ranked with Sherlock Holmes.
Early in his career, Judge Dee visits a senior magistrate who shows him a beautiful lacquer screen on which a scene of lovers has been mysteriously altered to show the man stabbing his lover. The magistrate fears he is losing his mind and will murder his own wife. Meanwhile, a banker has inexplicably killed himself, and a lovely lady has allowed Dee's lieutenant, Chiao Tai, to believe she is a courtesan. Dee and Chiao Tai go incognito among a gang of robbers to solve this mystery, and find the leader of the robbers is more honorable than the magistrate.
This audiobook is expertly read by Peter Kim, with audio engineering by Sam Platt. It was produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont."
"Set during the Tang Dynasty, this historical mystery features Chinese detective Judge Dee as he investigates a locked room mystery involving a prostitute.
A chance encounter with Autumn Moon, the most powerful courtesan on Paradise Island, leads magistrate Judge Dee to investigate the murder of a man who spent his last week alive with the infamous prostitute. When the lady herself is murdered, the mystery deepens, leading Dee through a tangled history of passion and betrayal.
This audiobook is read by Peter Kim, with audio engineering by Sam Platt. It was produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont."
"Set during the T'ang dynasty, the Judge Dee Mysteries feature a brilliant and cultured Confucian magistrate disdainful of personal luxury and corruption, who cleverly selects allies to help him navigate the royal courts, politics, and ethnic tensions in imperial China.
Murder in Canton takes place in the year 680, as Judge Dee, recently promoted to lord chief justice, is sent incognito to Canton to investigate the disappearance of a court censor. With the help of his trusted lieutenants Chiao Tai and Tao Gan, and that of a clever blind girl who collects crickets, Dee solves a complex puzzle of political intrigue and murder through the three separate subplots 'the vanished censor,' 'the Smaragdine dancer,' and 'the Golden Bell.'
Written by a Dutch diplomat and scholar during the 1950s and 1960s, these lively and historically accurate mysteries have entertained a devoted following for decades.
Robert van Gulik modeled Judge Dee on a magistrate of that name who lived in the seventh century, and he drew on stories and literary conventions of Chinese mystery writing dating back to the Sung dynasty to construct his ingenious plots.
This audiobook is expertly read by Peter Kim, with audio engineering by Sam Platt. It was produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont."
"An eerie tale, combining investigation, horror and surprise, Robert van Gulik's latest Chinese detective story is set in a remote western border province of the mighty Tang empire.
There, in the district of Lan-fang, separated from the vast Tartar steppes of Central Asia by only a boundary river, Judge Dee faces and solves one of the most frightening cases of his long career.
Outside the east city gate, on a wooded hill, stood a centuries-old Buddhist temple. It was there that the phantom stalked; and there also a series of brutal murders were committed. Judge Dee's inquiry into them is complicated by a mysterious dying message from a young girl and by the theft of a large sum in gold from an imperial treasurer.
Judge Dee presided over his imperial Chinese court with a unique brand of Confucian justice. A near mythic figure in China, he distinguished himself as a tribunal magistrate, inquisitor, and public avenger. Long after his death, accounts of his exploits were celebrated in Chinese folklore, and later immortalized by Robert van Gulik in his electrifying mysteries.
'Judge Dee belongs in that select group of fictional detectives headed by the renowned Sherlock Holmes. I assure you it is a compliment not given frivolously.'
—Robert Kirsch, Los Angeles Times
This audiobook is expertly read by Peter Kim, with audio engineering by Sam Platt. It was produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont."
"The latest puzzling mystery facing Jude Dee begins on the night of the Poo-yang dragonboat races in 699 A.D.: a drummer in the leading boat collapses, and the body of a beautiful young woman turns up in a deserted country mansion. There, Judge Dee—tribunal magistrate, inquisitor, and public avenger—steps in to investigate the murders and return order to the Tang Dynasty.
In The Emperor’s Pearl, the judge discovers that these two deaths are connected by an ancient tragedy involving a near-legendary treasure stolen from the Imperial Harem one hundred years earlier. The terrifying figure of the White Lady, a river goddess enshrined on a bloodstained altar, looms in the background of the investigation. Clues are few and elusive, but under the expert hand of Robert van Gulik, this mythic jigsaw puzzle assembles itself into a taut mystery.
'If you have not yet discovered Judge Dee and his faithful Sgt. Hoong, I envy you that initial pleasure which comes from the discovery of a great detective story. For the magistrate of Poo-yang belongs in that select group of fictional detectives headed by the renowned Sherlock Holmes.' —Robert Kirsch, Los Angeles Times
This audiobook is expertly read by Peter Kim, with audio engineering by Sam Platt. It was produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont."
"A magistrate investigates the death of a nobleman in this historical mystery set in China's Tang Dynasty era.
Judge Dee has been appointed emergency governor of the plague and drought ridden Imperial City. As his guards help the city fend off a popular uprising, an aristocrat from one of the oldest families in China suffers an 'accident' in a deserted mansion.
In The Willow Pattern, the illustrious judge uses his trademark expertise to unravel the mysteries of the nobleman, a shattered vase, and a dead bondmaid. Along the way he encounters a woman who fights with loaded sleeves, a nearly drowned courtesan, and an elaborate trap set for a murderer. Packed with suspense, violence, and romance, The Willow Pattern won't disappoint Judge Dee's legions of loyal fans.
'The China of old, in Mr. van Gulik's skilled hands, comes vividly alive again.' —New York Times Book Review
'Entertaining, instructive and oddly impressive.' —Times Literary Supplement
This audiobook is expertly read by Peter Kim, with audio engineering by Sam Platt. It was produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont."
"The very first mystery in the beloved series starring Judge Dee, a detective whom the Los Angeles Times ranked with Sherlock Holmes!
Join the T'ang Dynasty detective Judge Dee on his very first full-length mystery! Poisoned plums, a cryptic scroll picture, passionate love letters, and a hidden murderer with a penchant for torturing and killing women lead Judge Dee to the heart of the Governor’s garden maze and the answers to three interwoven mysteries. This book kicked off Robert van Gulik's long-running series and introduced countless readers to a cozy, clever series and the incredible detective at its center. Read this one and you'll quickly find yourself seeking out the whole series.
This audiobook is expertly read by Peter Kim, with audio engineering by Sam Platt. It was produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont."
"A delectable collection of cozy puzzle mysteries starring the wonderful Chinese sleuth Judge Dee, whom the Los Angeles Times ranked with Sherlock Holmes.
The eight short stories in Judge Dee at Work cover a decade during which the judge served in four different provinces of the T’ang Empire. From the suspected treason of a general in the Chinese army to the murder of a lonely poet in his garden pavilion, the cases here are among the most memorable in the Judge Dee series.
A Dutch scholar, linguist, and diplomat who grew up immersed in Asian culture, Robert van Gulik discovered and translated an eighteenth-century Chinese crime novel he'd found in an antiquarian bookstore. Its success led him to write multiple mysteries featuring the same character. Based on a historical magistrate and statesman of the seventh-century T'ang Dynasty, his Judge Dee mysteries have entertained readers for decades.
This audiobook is expertly read by Peter Kim, with audio engineering by Sam Platt. It was produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont."
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