🎯 Where Should I Start?
ⓘ About Robert Van Gulik
Robert Van Gulik was one of the best known authors from the Netherlands, who was famous for writing successful historical mystery books and short stories. He was particularly well known for writing the Judge Dee mystery series. After being born in Holland, author Gulik spent most of his early years in Jakarta, Indonesia. During the time of his stay over there, she learned different languages. He returned back to his home country and obtained his PhD from the Leiden University in the year 1935. Immediately after, he joined the Foreign Service of Netherlands and started working in the linguistics department. At the time of the breakout of the Second World War, author Gulik was in Tokyo. He was evacuated and sent to China.
All Book Series by Robert Van Gulik
Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee / Dee Goong An
Series opener · book 1 of 17 · published 1949
Poets and Murder / The Fox-Magic Murders
Latest in the series · book 17 of 17 · published 1968
The Lore of the Chinese Lute: An Essay on the Ideology of the Ch'in
Book 2 of 8 · published 1969
John Searle and his Critics
Book 6 of 8 · published 1991 Co-authored · Ernest Lepore
Scrapbook for Chinese Collectors
Latest in the series · book 8 of 8 · published 2006
What Every Novelist Needs to Know about Narrators
Series opener · book 1 of 5 · published 2012 Anthology · Wayne C. Booth
Hagfish Slime and Lobster Rolls
Book 2 of 5 · published 2013 Anthology · Ellen Prager
The 2012 Campaign and the Timeline of Presidential Elections
Latest in the series · book 5 of 5 · published 2014 Anthology · Robert S. Erikson
The Oxford Book of Detective Stories
Latest in the series · book 2 of 2 · published 2000
? Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Robert Van Gulik?
Robert Van Gulik was one of the best known authors from the Netherlands, who was famous for writing successful historical mystery books and short stories. He was particularly well known for writing the Judge Dee mystery series. After being born in Holland, author Gulik spent most of his early years in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Which Robert Van Gulik series should I start with?
The best place to start is the Judge Dee Mysteries series, the earliest of Robert Van Gulik's multi-book series: it opens with Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee / Dee Goong An (1949) and runs to 17 books across 1949–1968, ending with Poets and Murder / The Fox-Magic Murders (1968). Robert Van Gulik's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.
How many books has Robert Van Gulik written?
Robert Van Gulik has 33 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1949 and 2014. 22 of them belong to 2 named series — the largest being the Judge Dee Mysteries series with 17 books — and 11 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.
In what order should Robert Van Gulik's series be read?
Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Robert Van Gulik's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Judge Dee Mysteries (1949–1968, 17 books) and Chicago Shorts (2012–2014, 5 books).
How are Robert Van Gulik's books organised into series?
This guide splits Robert Van Gulik's 33 books into 2 named series and 11 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Judge Dee Mysteries (17 books, 1949–1968); Chicago Shorts (5 books, 2012–2014).