The Strange Cases of Detective Di Renjie in the Great Tang

Detective Di Renjie: Strange Tales of the Great Tang is a historical mystery novel starring the famed Tang chancellor Di Renjie. It cleverly blends real history with folk legends, unfolding a series of baffling cases beneath the grand panorama of the flourishing Tang dynasty.

Set during Empress Wu Zetian's reign, the divine capital of Luoyang is rife with undercurrents. As Di Renjie investigates one bizarre murder after another, he unexpectedly uncovers palace secrets, arcane arts from the martial world, and a shocking conspiracy involving remnants of the previous dynasty. From blood-soaked coffins in the ghost market and fox spirits in abandoned temples to illusion magic, poisonous spells, and labyrinthine mechanisms, the strange cases are intricately connected. Together with his exceptionally skilled guard Li Yuanfang and his close friend Zeng Tai, who is versed in the arts of divination and geomancy, Di Renjie untangles the clues amid political intrigue and the suffering of ordinary people, gradually drawing closer to a dynastic crisis foretold in The Secret Canon of the Western Regions. The novel offers vivid depictions of the bustling marketplaces and exotic customs of the Great Tang, while concealing mysteries rooted in the Book of Changes and imaginative ancient technology. It weaves a feast of Eastern fantasy that combines strange tales with rigorous deduction amid the cracks of history.