This article examines the popular fantasy series, Gagaklodra, created by Njoo Cheong Seng in the late period of colonial Indonesia. As one of the earliest original works of crime and detective genre in Indonesia, conceived by an exceptionally cosmopolitan author of Chinese heritage, the Gagaklodra series is remarkably hybrid in terms of concept and content. It takes after both indigenous folklore and European cloak-and-dagger stories, anchored by a Javanese-Chinese protagonist. Written over the span of twenty-two years and three political regimes, the episodes of Gagaklodra not only capture the rapidly changing historical landscape between the 1930s and the 1940s, but also communicate a more inclusive outlook with regard to national belonging for the nation that was about to be born.
