The Chinese Gold Murders

The Chinese Gold Murders

First US edition
Author	Robert van Gulik
Series	Judge Dee
Genre	Gong'an fiction, Mystery, Detective novel, Crime, Historical mystery
Publisher	Michael Joseph (UK) Harper & Brothers (US)
Publication date	1959
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	214 pp (paperback edition)
OCLC	4665025
Dewey Decimal	823
LC Class	PZ4.G97 Cg 1979 PR9130.9.G8
Preceded by	The Chinese Lake Murders
Followed by	The Chinese Nail Murders

The Chinese Gold Murders is a gong'an historical mystery novel written by Robert van Gulik and set in Imperial China (roughly speaking the Tang Dynasty). It is a fiction based on the real character of Judge Dee (Ti Jen-chieh or Di Renjie), a magistrate and statesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly 630–700.

The book includes a map of the fictional town of Peng-lai.

Plot introduction

Judge Dee is a recently appointed magistrate to the miserable town/district of Peng-lai. His predecessor has been murdered and so Judge Dee must investigate. The investigation is made more complex due to the disappearance of his chief clerk as well as the new bride of a wealthy local shipowner. Meanwhile, a tiger is terrorizing the district, the ghost of the murdered magistrate is stalking members of the court, a prostitute has a secret message for Judge Dee, and the body of a murdered monk is found to have been placed in the wrong grave. What could possibly relate all these events?

The town of Peng-lai was the setting for other Judge Dee stories including: The Lacquer Screen, and three of the short stories from Judge Dee at Work.