Where I Accidentally Read This a Second Time

Celebrated Cases Of Judge Dee by Robert van Gulik
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Did you ever get well into a book and think "This is more than a little familiar..."

Funny story.

I don't think I ever did that before this, but it's crazy that I did it with this book. It's super unique, an actual Chinese detective novel from the 1700s translated into English, and I liked it at the time. Somehow I forgot entirely. I still wasn't sure until I checked my goodreads history to see.

I think I read it more carefully this time, kept more of the minor characters straight in my head. It's surprising to me how modern this book feels, how familiar, even to a western reader like me.

So now I have read it twice, although I seldom reread books. And I liked it both times. Judge Dee is a cool character--despite his use of torture, which was expected at the time--and is very Sherlockian in his detective work. And there's a bit of wuxia in the action scenes featuring his investigators. It's no wonder they made movies and tv shows with him as a character.

If you have an interest in the history of detective stories or want to look at Chinese history from a different angle, you might enjoy this. I did.

Here's my original two sentence review from 8 years ago:

This is a very accessible novel, with useful notes and preface by the translator. It's a pleasure to read on its own, as a mystery novel with intertwined stories, but even more interesting when read with an eye toward Chinese manners and history.

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