# A genre author you love dies; another is hired to take up the series. Do you continue reading? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 7, 2014, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559 "2014-07-07T18:47:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/101 "2014-07-11T22:34:08Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Incidentally, _Return to the Willows_ is a quite good sequel to the beloved Children’s classic. Good ratings on Amazon: I just glommed a copy. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/102 "2014-07-14T15:31:00Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > While I would be OK with another Tarzan tale, it shouldn’t be one where Tarzan has orgies with Cheeta. Fool of a mangani! Two [del]people[/del] creatures cannot have an orgy. Takes at least four. Everybody knows that. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/103 "2014-07-14T17:10:39Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Fool of a mangani! > > Two [del]people[/del] creatures cannot have an orgy. Takes at least four. Everybody knows that. I bow to your evident vast knowledge of monkey orgies.😛 ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/104 "2014-07-14T17:20:56Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I bow to your evident vast knowledge of monkey orgies.😛 You have placed me in a situation in which my only reasonable response requires me to dump you into a vat filled with hungry pirahna. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/105 "2014-07-14T18:46:48Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > My first thought was _certainly not!_ I did read [Anne Hiilerman’s continuation](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17349269-spider-woman-s-daughter) of her father’s Chee and Leaphorn novels, though. It was a little clunky, but entertaining and I think she’ll probably improve if she continues the series. I thought it was surprisingly good, and I thought it was a good move on her part to tell the story through the eyes of Bernie rather than Chee or Leaphorn. I found the climactic scene a bit hard to visualize, though. On the whole, for me, it depends. The successor needs to be able to make his/her own magic in the originator’s world, and that can be tough. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/106 "2014-07-14T19:55:26Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > You have placed me in a situation in which my only reasonable response requires me to dump you into a vat filled with hungry pirahna. :: starts to say something, thinks about it, then shrugs and nods :: ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/107 "2014-07-15T03:39:11Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > You took the words right out of my mouth. About 3 books after Spenser’s shooting, I realized Parker just didn’t care any more, and decided for myself that Spenser had been in a coma the entire time, just dreaming the same story over and over again with different details, because that’s what Parker was writing. I like this theory. A lot. I would extend it to the Sunny Randall novels as well, with Spenser hallucinating that he is a perkily adorable but tough-as-nails blonde with a gay best friend. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/108 "2014-07-15T18:54:46Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > You took the words right out of my mouth. About 3 books after Spenser’s shooting, I realized Parker just didn’t care any more, and decided for myself that Spenser had been in a coma the entire time, just dreaming the same story over and over again with different details, because that’s what Parker was writing. Except for _Cold Service_. That actually happened, and anyone who says differently is Welsh. (Though it IS essentially the same story as Small Vices.) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/109 "2014-07-16T03:34:01Z")
I was intrigued to learn that several people have written novels about Djien-Djieh Dee after Robert Gulik’s death. These have not, for the most part, been translated into English: > [@](#): > > Several other authors have created stories based on Van Gulik’s Judge Dee character. > French author Frédéric Lenormand wrote 19 new Judge Dee mysteries from year 2004 at Editions Fayard, Paris (not yet translated into English). Some of them have been translated into Spanish (Ediciones Paidos Iberica), Portuguese (Europress), Bulgarian (Paradox), Czech (Garamond) and Polish.[citation needed] > Sven Roussel, another French author, has written La dernière enquête du Juge Ti.[2] > The Chinese-American author Zhu Xiao Di wrote a book about Judge Dee called Tales of Judge Dee (2006), set when the Judge was the magistrate of Poo-yang (the same time period as The Chinese Bell Murders and several other novels). Zhu Xiao Di has no relation to Robert van Gulik but tried to stay faithful to the fictionalized history of van Gulik’s Judge Dee.[citation needed] > Judge Dee appears, along with a fictionalized Wu Zetian, in Eleanor Cooney & Daniel Alteri’s mystery novel Deception: A Novel of Mystery and Madness in Ancient China.[citation needed] > > By other authors[edit] > > By the author Frédéric Lenormand (not yet translated into English) > Le Château du lac Tchou-an (2004) The Zhou-an lake castle > La Nuit des juges (2004) The Night of the judges > Petits meurtres entre moines (2004) Little murders among monks > Le Palais des courtisanes (2004) The courtesans’ palace > Madame Ti mène l’enquête (2005) Mrs. Dee investigates > Mort d’un cuisinier chinois (2005) Death of a Chinese cook > L’Art délicat du deuil (2006) The Delicate art of mourning > Mort d’un maître de go (2006) Death of a Go master > Dix petits démons chinois (2007) Ten little Chinese devils > Médecine chinoise à l’usage des assassins (2007) Chinese Medicine for murderers > Guide de survie d’un juge en Chine (2008) Survival guide for the Chinese judge > Panique sur la Grande Muraille (2008) Panic on the Great Wall > Le Mystère du jardin chinois (2009) The Chinese Garden Mystery > Diplomatie en kimono (2009) Diplomacy in a Kimono > Thé vert et arsenic (2010) Arsenic and green tea > Un Chinois ne ment jamais (2010) A Chinese never lies > Divorce à la chinoise (2011) Chinese-style Divorce > Meurtres sur le fleuve Jaune (2011) The Yellow River Murders > > By the author Zhu Xiao Di > Tales of Judge Dee (2006), set in the time when Judge Dee is in Poo-yang (AD 669-670) > > By the author Sven Roussel > La Dernière Enquète du Juge Ti (2008) set at the end Judge Dee’s term of service in Lan Fang (AD 675) > > By authors Eleanor Cooney & Daniel Alteri > Deception: A Novel of Mystery and Madness in Ancient China, ISBN 0-380-70872-8 > > By Lin Qianyu (林千羽) > 狄仁杰 通天帝国 (2010), tie-in novel of Tsui Hark 2010 film: Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, ISBN 978-7-5385-4859-4 > **[Judge Dee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judge_Dee)** > > Judge Dee, or Judge Di, is a semi-fictional character based on the historical figure Di Renjie, county magistrate and statesman of the Tang court. The character appeared in the 18th-century Chinese detective and gong'an crime novel Di Gong An. After Robert van Gulik came across it in an antiquarian book store in Tokyo, he translated the novel into English and then used the style and characters to write his own original Judge Dee historical mystery stories. > The series is set in Tang dynasty China... I’ve read **Deception** , which retains Dee as a detective, although not in quite the way that Van Gulik had. I’d like to read some of the others listed above that do, should they become available in English. I have no interest in seeing the Detective Dee film., which seems completely different. Incidentally, the Wikipedia list is not complete. According to Van Gulik himself, Dee appears (as “Judge Ti”) in Lin Yu-Tang’;s novel _Lady Wu_, which I’d like to read some time. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/110 "2014-07-26T08:33:12Z")
FWIW, as I know Clancy doesn’t garner a lot of interest around these parts lately, Support and Defend was as good as any previous Clancy I’ve read and had a much better sense of humor. The novel was basically one long chase but stayed interesting the whole time, despite being focused on a very small corner of the Clancy-verse. Apparently there will be another novel coming in December or so. I am looking forward to it. ---
**Author:** ![toast\_pakora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@toast\_pakora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toast_pakora)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559/111 "2014-07-26T17:52:53Z")
I also did not know that someone had continued to write Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries, great news. The things you learn online. Also the Rick Boyer story, a reminder to see if there’re any Doc Adams books I’ve missed. Did not know that Wm Tappley had died. It was always neat to see their characters cross-reference each other (and apparently neither character worked much; they were always out of the office). I had stopped reading him though. The last Brady Coyne one I read was too much about a new girlfriend who just seemed like such a drama llama. Maybe she was killed off in the next book, anyone know? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-genre-author-you-love-dies-another-is-hired-to-take-up-the-series-do-you-continue-reading/692559.md?page=5)