Novels like Detective Di Renjie: The Phantom Scheme of Youzhou
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as Detective Di Renjie: The Phantom Scheme of Youzhou, best match first.
- 1 Dust of the Tang Dynasty 微尘揽盛唐 From the deadly Black Pine Forest to the besieged city of the New Government, from taking office alone to earning the support of people from every quarter, he has always stayed true to his original purpose: to serve as an official and bring peace to the people in his care. He remains incorruptible amid political schemes, protects the people in troubled times, and stays true to enduring bonds of loyalty and affection amid the clash of blades. This is more than the tale of a lowborn minor official —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 2 Tales of Astonishing Cases: Strange Crimes of Ancient Times 拍案惊奇：古代奇案录 Crimes are committed with godlike cunning, leaving no trace; cases are judged with fairness and sound discernment. Wrongful and unsolved cases were common in ancient times, whether confessions were beaten out of the accused or witnesses were silenced by murder. This book explores strange and unsolved cases from ancient times. The plots are full of twists and turns, and the investigations are rife with complications, while also shedding light on ancient China’s bureaucratic politics and social re 2.1kReads9.1Score18814d adds
- 3 My Drunkard Dad 我的酒鬼老爹 I really didn’t get the Burning Technique… A drunkard for a father and a scheming mother gave birth to a clueless boy. Mystery + political intrigue + deduction + crime-solving + martial arts world No System, no golden finger, and no reloading a save to start over. No invincibility, no brainlessness, no harem, and no saintly hero. Life is full of ups and downs, and people come in all sorts. With a broken sword in hand, the young man roams the world, gradually unraveling the mystery of his birth! 8Reads—Score114d adds
- 4 Peace Under Heaven 天下长安 Princess Yiyang of Dazhao is breathtakingly beautiful, ruthless, and cruel. While the late emperor still lived, she kept male favorites, amassed private troops, purged the imperial harem, and schemed for an heir. She was more brazen and domineering than the few useless princes. After the emperor died, she seized power, purged the court, killed senior officials, and placed a new emperor on the throne. She ruled as a woman who usurped a man’s role, controlled the court, and held the Son of Heaven 1.3kReads9.0Score14614d adds
- 5 The Northern Song Mystery: The Lotus Case 北宋悬疑密码：莲花案 During the Kaibao era, a murder marked with a lotus pattern shook Bianliang. More killings followed at the West Market Inn and Qingfeng Pavilion, bringing the Lotus Pavilion back into the public eye overnight. The court and the streets were in an uproar, and rumors spread everywhere. Ning Yanzhi, the orphaned survivor of the White Lotus Pavilion, disguises himself as an idle young gentleman and slips into Bianliang under an assumed name. He seeks only to find his former comrades and uncover the 327Reads8.9Score—14d adds
- 6 The Sun and Moon Beneath One Sky: Princess Taiping 日月当空：太平公主 Princess Taiping was one of the most controversial and legendary female political figures in Chinese history, a thorny yet dazzling rose in the splendor of the High Tang. The most beloved daughter of Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi and Empress Wu Zetian, she married Xue Shao at sixteen in a wedding procession stretching ten miles, hoping for a peaceful life. But she was implicated in Xue Yi's treason case and watched her husband starve to death in prison, shattering her dreams. She put away her innocence 14Reads—Score—14d adds
- 7 Judge Dee Case Files: The Lakeside Case 狄公案·湖滨案 [High suspense, nonstop twists, and ancient-style detective stories] Di Renjie, county magistrate of Hanyuan, attends a banquet aboard a pleasure boat. What should have been an elegant evening becomes the scene of a locked-room murder. Beneath the moonlit sky, at the heart of the lake, the music suddenly stops, and a woman’s corpse surfaces. Then an unsolved chess game from seventy years ago reappears, a bride mysteriously “comes back to life” on her wedding night, a carpenter is found dead in a 16Reads8.7Score—14d adds
- 8 Judge Dee Case Files: Chaoyun Temple 狄公案：朝云观 While returning home with his family, the famed detective Di Gong is caught in a violent storm. Their carriage is wrecked, forcing them to seek shelter at the mist-shrouded Chaoyun Temple. The temple is celebrating its founding anniversary. Pilgrims fill the grounds, and a theater troupe takes the stage. It all seems lively and festive, yet something sinister lurks beneath the surface. Late that night, Di Gong looks out his window and catches sight of a burly man in an iron helmet in the opposit 7Reads8.6Score314d adds
- 9 The Fog of a Bizarre Case 诡案迷雾 A historical mystery and political intrigue novel set in the fictionalized Wu Zhou period of the Tang dynasty, around the fifteenth year of Wu Zhou. It follows the protagonist and his companions as they enter government service and become entangled in a series of criminal cases, as well as the gripping struggle over the succession to the throne at the Luoyang court. This is my second novel. I hope you enjoy it, and I’ll do my best to tell a good story! 92Reads—Score—14d adds
- 10 The Young Judge of Cases 少年青天断案录 [Mystery and Crime Solving] [Court and Jianghu] [Political Scheming and Wits]… A bizarre, earth-shaking case shattered twenty-seven years of peace in the Great Yan Dynasty. In a single day, three prefects of Jingnan Circuit died under mysterious circumstances. Xu Xinghe, the nineteen-year-old Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, was entrusted with the task in a moment of crisis and sent to investigate the southern frontier with the emperor’s sword. After enduring countless dangers and pain 2.2kReads—Score18614d adds
- 11 Judge Dee Case Files: The Red Pavilion 狄公案：红阁子 Three curses in a secret chamber, a beauty’s debt from hell On Paradise Island, the nights are a whirl of luxury and revelry. Di Renjie, magistrate of Puyang County, is just passing through when he is forced to stop and take on what seems like an open-and-shut suicide case: Li Hanlin, a newly appointed top scholar, is heartbroken and has slit his throat in the Red Pavilion at the Yongle Inn. Thirty years earlier, the wealthy merchant Tao Kuang also cut his own throat in this room. Three days lat 33Reads8.9Score—14d adds
- 12 Judge Dee Case Files: The Bronze Bell Case 狄公案：铜钟案 [Historical mystery + locked-room murders + Detective Di Renjie + interwoven serial cases] A new official takes office, and the county yamen stays lit late into the night. On his first day in Puyang, Di Gong encounters a strange case: on Half-Moon Street, a butcher’s daughter is brutally murdered in her bedroom. A love poem and a gold hairpin point to a scholar. But hidden clues and the night watchman’s clappers reveal the real killer: a wandering fraud posing as a Daoist, using holy robes to di 20Reads8.8Score414d adds
- 13 The Mao Family Cases 毛公案 The Mao Gong Cases is a classic of Ming and Qing courtroom fiction. Centered on the legendary cases solved by Mao Dengke, an imperial censor sent to inspect Zhili during the Jiajing era, it presents the moral codes and judicial ideals of Ming society through shocking cases such as “A Wicked Brother Harms His Younger Brother” and “A Rebellious Son Kills His Mother.” The book consists of six chapters and follows the loyal official Lord Mao as he goes undercover to investigate and cleverly solve st 131Reads9.2Score—14d adds
- 14 The Mao Gong Cases in Plain Language: A Deadly Dispute Over an Inheritance 白话毛公案：兄弟争产酿血案 Modern Vernacular Translation of the Mao Gong Casebook retells the ancient casebook novel The Mao Gong Casebook in contemporary vernacular. It mainly tells the story of a tragic and inhuman murder during the Jiajing reign of the Ming dynasty, when the Yao brothers of Liangxiang, Zhuozhou, fought over their father’s inheritance. The elder brother, Yao Geng, and his sister-in-law, Liu, were consumed by greed and plotted to seize the family estate. They went so far as to murder Yao Yi, the younger 134Reads9.3Score10214d adds
- 15 The Liu Gong Case Files 刘公案 [Mind-Bending Mystery + Qing Dynasty Cold Cases + Shocking Twists + Chinese-Style Horror + Liu Luoguo] The Great Qing is at peace, but beneath the surface, unrest stirs in Jiangning Prefecture, Jinling. Liu Yong has barely arrived and settled in when he stumbles upon a shocking case: a married couple spends the night at an inn, but the husband dies under mysterious circumstances and the wife vanishes. The county magistrate beats a confession out of the innkeeper, who is then declared the murdere 182Reads9.5Score—14d adds
- 16 The Judge Dee Cases 狄公案 [Four Great Mysteries of Empress Wu Zetian + Di Renjie + detective mystery + stunning reversals + Chinese-style horror] When Di Renjie takes up his first post as magistrate of Changping County, he never expects one murder after another to rock the small town! News arrives that a Huzhou merchant has been murdered at the Li Lidun inn. The innkeeper, Kong Wande, protests his innocence, but the local headman, Hu De, refuses to let him off the hook. When Di Renjie investigates, the evidence points st 288Reads9.5Score3014d adds
- 17 Judge Dee: Cracking the Case 大唐狄公案·破局 What makes this book a great read: the victims’ bizarre deaths, painstaking deduction, and a style that shifts from witty and humorous to serious and meticulous. It’s a boy’s version of The Cases of Judge Dee and a Tang Dynasty version of The Washing Away of Wrongs! Rather than sketching out the plot in broad strokes, the story offers detailed, vivid depictions of the crime scenes. This makes the cases feel authentic while keeping the focus on the investigations! The Golden Mystery, The Secret T 1.6kReads9.3Score9514d adds
- 18 Shangguan Wan’er: Courtly Intrigue in the Tang Dynasty 唐朝上官婉儿宫廷风云 Shangguan Wan'er was the daughter of a convicted official, yet she became Wu Zetian's right-hand woman. When Emperor Zhongzong of Tang was restored to the throne, she was named Zhaorong and continued overseeing official edicts for both the inner court and the outer government. Later, she attached herself to Princess Taiping. After Emperor Zhongzong's sudden death, Shangguan Wan'er and Princess Taiping drafted an imperial edict naming Li Chongmao crown prince, with Prince Xiang, Li Dan, as regent 3.1kReads7.5Score19414d adds
- 19 The Martial Emperor Comes to Qing: Wielding Dream of the Red Chamber to Restore the Ming 武皇临清：手执红楼复大明 “My empire! Who’s kneeling down and handing it over to someone else?!” Outraged by the late Qing’s incompetence and treachery, Wu Zetian and Zhu Di rise from the dead and travel through time in a fury. With the cipher key to Dream of the Red Chamber in hand, they restore the Ming dynasty… 61Reads—Score214d adds
- 20 Detective Di Renjie: The Magistrate of Pengze County 神探狄仁杰之彭泽县令 In the first year of Changshou, Di Renjie is framed by treacherous schemers and demoted to the remote wilderness of Pengze, where he stumbles upon a city full of bizarre cases! A derelict rouge house, abandoned for ten years; a locked-room murder on a rainy night; three ruffians found dead inside, their lips curled in smiles, with no trace of how they died. The county authorities rule it a ghostly vengeance, and panic grips the people. Summoned to solve the case in a time of crisis, Di Gong sets 114Reads—Score10214d adds
- 21 Gaining a Villain's Legacy, Starting with Detective Di Renjie 从神探狄仁杰开始获得反派传承 Bai Yunfei is at home watching TV, tuned to Detective Di Renjie. When he sees Hu Jinghui die, he can't help feeling that Hu Jinghui deserved better. He had peerless martial arts, yet fell for a woman like Li Qingxia. What a tragedy! That night, Bai Yunfei is taken away by the System in his sleep because his obsession runs too deep. Thus begins his journey through other worlds, experiencing different lives. With a different position in each world, he sees more and makes choices unlike the ones he 187Reads6.8Score—14d adds
- 22 The Tang Dynasty’s Female County Magistrate 大唐女县尉 Tang Dynasty, women-focused suspense, mystery, crime-solving She is a rare female official under the laws of the Tang Dynasty. On her very first night in office, a strange case lands at her door: deep in a rainy alley, night watchman Chen San lies dead, wearing one brand-new red bridal embroidered shoe, while the other has vanished. Rumors that a “fox spirit has taken a husband” sweep through the city in an instant. 75Reads—Score—14d adds
- 23 The Great Song Coroner, Part Three 大宋提刑官第三部 At the end of the Southern Song, Song Ci, the founding father of Chinese forensic science, resigns from office and retreats into seclusion after losing all faith in the court. He devotes himself to completing the work of a lifetime, The Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified. But the tides of the age will not let him stand apart. Mongol cavalry rides south, and the realm is shattered. In his twilight years, Song Ci is forced to return to public life. From a corruption-murder case at the Jianyang 795Reads7.1Score—14d adds
- 24 The Ten Great Mysteries of the Song Dynasty 大宋十大奇案 No harem, no formulaic tropes, no invincible protagonist, no System, no golden finger, and no transmigration. This is not a power fantasy, so read at your own discretion! A pure historical mystery set in the jianghu, offering an immersive experience of everyday life in an ancient town and the suspenseful twists and turns as officials use their wits to solve cases… 7.3kReads8.6Score63914d adds
- 25 The Ming Dynasty’s Special Reconnaissance Troops: The Night Watchmen 明朝特种侦察兵夜不收 A battle of wits between elite scouts, a shadow war of espionage full of twists, and a poignant romance between two people caught in forces beyond their control: all this awaits in the legendary tale of the Ming Dynasty’s Night-Rejecting scouts! During the Jiajing era, unrest flares along the frontier as the Mongols and Jurchens watch hungrily from the shadows. An elite reconnaissance unit known as the Night-Rejectors becomes the sharpest hidden blade guarding the Ming border. Shen Yan, the son 414Reads6.4Score10014d adds
- 26 Detective Di Renjie, Book Five 神探狄仁杰第五部 In the final years of Emperor Wu of the Tang dynasty, the capital Luoyang had finally begun to settle down. After the brilliant detective Di Renjie exposed the Burning Heaven Fire at the Shanjin Bureau, the rebellion in Youzhou, and the Blood Eagle's chain of murders, he retired from public life and settled in the Southern Market, hoping to enjoy his twilight years in peace. But when all is quiet, trouble is never far away. After a banquet in the Eastern Palace, Crown Prince Li Xian suddenly fa 629Reads8.8Score12214d adds
- 27 Reborn in Li Bai's Body? From the Start at Mawei Post Station, I Save Yang Yuhuan 魂穿李白？开局马嵬驿，我救玉环 One of Tomato's rare gems. The An Lushan Rebellion, an exiled immortal and a noble consort, intrigue amid chaos, and fervent devotion to the nation. A man remains a boy until the day he dies. As he makes his way through life, apart from Yang Yuhuan, his unattainable first love, which of the colorful women of the Tang dynasty became his cinnabar-marked love? And who remained the one he could never let go? Most importantly, whether heroes or villains, everyone is sharp-witted. This story is entire 152Reads—Score—14d adds
- 28 Love Amid the Corridors of Power 宦海情途 After offending his superiors, Zhou Zhiyuan was transferred from the county Party committee office to a remote township. Amid the undercurrents of grassroots politics, he remains humble yet steadfast, puts down roots in the countryside, and plans for development. Through one power struggle after another, he holds true to himself and uses his courage and wisdom to break through and grow. Starting from a small township, he rides the waves and steadily opens a path to success in his political caree 17.1kReads7.6Score1.3k14d adds
- 29 From the Start, I'm an Emperor: Building an Ancient Divine Sect 开局大帝境，打造太古神宗 After Wang Yi became sect leader, he activated a System and was rewarded with the cultivation of a Great Emperor. He vowed to build the greatest divine sect of the ancient era. Looking at the many prodigies hoping to join his sect... “What? You have a Supreme Bone and want to become a Holy Son? Sorry, in our sect, people with Supreme Bones are only good enough to guard the gate!” “You have the bloodline of a Heavenly Phoenix? Not bad! The kitchen needs a chef who can produce phoenix fire, so the 19kReads8.4Score96714d adds
- 30 Zero-Degree Showdown: Operation Blue Arrow 零度交锋：蓝捷行动 [Mystery and Suspense] [Espionage] [Crime Investigation] [Modern Urban] [Genius] [Strong Female Lead] [National Security] Twenty-three years ago, a separation tore the lives of twin sisters apart. The younger sister was trained by an overseas spy organization to become an elite agent. Sent back to China, she is ordered to assassinate her own sister, take her place, infiltrate Lanjie Communications, and steal the core secret, “Lanjie 9.” Caught between her mission and her organization's orders on 11.9kReads9.1Score1.4k14d adds
- 31 The Great Qi Marquis of One Step 大齐一步侯 [Alternate history, airtight logic, a treat to listen to, multiple heroines, lighthearted daily life, the jianghu and court politics, love and hate, national and family vendettas...] A modern-day criminal investigator transmigrates into the body of a minor official in the State of Qi. At first, his only dream is to stay alive. But when foreign barbarians invade the Central Plains, slaughtering and pillaging until the kingdom falls and families are torn apart, he has no choice but to enter the fr 17kReads8.2Score1k14d adds
- 32 A Thousand Years of Sign-In in the Underworld, Then Reincarnating Makes the Empress Cry 地府签到千年，投胎气哭女帝 After Li Heng died, his soul entered the underworld. He thought he would be reincarnated, but instead he unlocked a sign-in System in the Hall of the King of Hell. And so he became a lowly underworld officer who swept floors, wandering through every corner of the underworld. “Ding! You signed in at the Hall of the King of Hell and received the King of Hell's Sword!” “Ding! You signed in on the Eighteenth Level of Hell and received the Primordial Demon God Spear!” “Ding! You signed in at the Hall 15.1kReads8.6Score68k14d adds
- 33 Against the Meridians: Liar, Stop! 逆经：骗子住手 [Original novel for the animated series This Taoist Is Not Quite Right] Life is unpredictable. The fit thrive under Heaven's law, Those skilled in force become generals, those skilled in strategy become kings. Born into the lowest of professions, he refuses to live like a nobody, He waves the yin-yang banner and sees through the Six Lines of Divination. Watch him play at being a spirit medium, watch him swindle and deceive, Watch him make ruthless decisions, watch him rise like a hidden dragon f 43.1kReads9.4Score4.4k14d adds
- 34 The Hot-Blooded Hunter: God’s Assault 热血猎人神之袭击 [Survival] [Hunting] [Fighting the Japanese invaders and looting their gear] [Cultivation] Wang Fei has just entered the world of cultivation when he's forced into becoming a live-in son-in-law. One blow shatters his dantian, setting him on a long road from staying alive to rising to greatness. Though he has lost his cultivation, he takes countless disciples. This novel was not written by AI. Every word was painstakingly typed out by the author, who only hopes readers will enjoy the story in its 27.5kReads9.0Score2.5k14d adds
- 35 In Another World, I Use Taoist Arts to Empty My Enemy's Warehouse 到了异世，我用道术搬空仇人仓库 An alternate history setting. Please do not compare this story with real history! Gou Yunshu, a modern Daoist exorcist, was betrayed by her best friend during an exorcism. She was struck down by heavenly retribution, killed by a bolt of lightning. She transmigrated into the body of a young girl in the Great Xia Kingdom of the Republican era and discovered that her grandfather had been captured by the Japanese army. To rescue him, she took her younger siblings, bought a house, and left Laolongtan 1.3kReads—Score10714d adds
