Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee: An Authentic Eighteenth-Century Chinese Detective Novel

3.93

2,330 ratings by Goodreads

ISBN 10: 1433288680 ISBN 13: 9781433288685

Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks, 2009

This early Chinese detective story follows the celebrated Judge Dee as he tries to solve three baffling cases. His work takes him up and down the great silk routes and into ancient graveyards, where he consults the spirits of the dead.

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About the Author:

Robert van Gulik (1910-1967) was born in the Netherlands. He was educated at the Universities of Leyden and Utrecht and served in the Dutch diplomatic service in China and Japan for many years. His interest in Asian languages and art led him to the discovery of Chinese detective novels and to the historical Judge Dee, who played an important role in the governance of Ming Dynasty China and inspired this novel. After translating Dee Goong An, van Gulik continued the adventures of Judge Dee in a number of original novels and stories.

Yuri Rasovsky (1944-2012) was the leading writer, producer, and director of audio drama in the United States. Also a distinguished actor, narrator, and critic, his numerous honors include two Peabody Awards, eight Audie Awards, and a Grammy.

Mark Bramhall has won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration, more than thirty AudioFile Earphones Awards, and has repeatedly been named by AudioFile magazine and Publishers Weekly among their Best Voices of the Year. He is also an award-winning actor whose acting credits include off-Broadway, regional, and many Los Angeles venues as well as television, animation, and feature films. He has taught and directed at the American Academy of Dramatic Art.

Lorna Raver, named one of AudioFile magazine's Best Voices of the Year, has received numerous Audie nominations and AudioFile Earphones Awards. An experienced stage actress, she has also guest-starred on many top television series and starred in director Sam Raimi's film Drag Me to Hell. Among her many Blackstone titles are The Age of Innocence, Up from Orchard Street, The Lodger, Selected Readings from the Portable Dorothy Parker, and Diamond Ruby.

Stefan Rudnicki first became involved with audiobooks in 1994. Now a Grammy-winning audiobook producer, he has worked on more than three thousand audiobooks as a narrator, writer, producer, or director. He has narrated more than three hundred audiobooks. A recipient of multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards, he was presented the coveted Audie Award for solo narration in 2005, 2007, and 2014, and was named one of AudioFile's Golden Voices in 2012.

From AudioFile:

This Chinese detective novel, based on a real magistrate, who lived c. 630-700 A.D., was written in the eighteenth century and reinterpreted in 1948 by Robert van Gulik (who later wrote his own series of Judge Dee mysteries). The audiobook hardly follows a Western mystery novel formula, but offers a glimpse of ancient Chinese society, illustrating the importance of rank and authority. Mark Bramhall reads with an appropriately formal air but relaxes when he portrays roadside ruffians and guilty widows. A particularly useful afterword explaining the book's structure--read by Yuri Rasovsky, who sounds like an avuncular Midwestern professor--should be listened to first. The afterword also explains the hilariously cheesy interlude (performed by Lorna Raver and Stephan Rudnicki) that represents the main characters' innermost motivations. R.M. � AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

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