- The Lacquer Screen
infobox Book |
name = The Lacquer Screen
image_caption = University of Chicago Press - 1997
author = Robert van Gulik
cover_artist = Ed Lindlof
series =Judge Dee
genre = Mystery, Detective Novel
publisher =University of Chicago Press
release_date = 1964
media_type = Print (Paperback )
pages = 181 pp (paperback edition)
isbn = ISBN 0-226-84867-1
preceded_by =The Emperor's Pearl
followed_by =The Red Pavilion
crime-task-force = yes"The Lacquer Screen" is a
detective novel written byRobert van Gulik and set inImperial China (roughly speaking theTang Dynasty ). It is a fiction based on the real character ofJudge Dee (Ti Jen-chieh or Di Renjie), amagistrate andstatesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly630 –700 .The book features fourteen illustrations by the author.
Plot introduction
In 663, Judge Dee is the young magistrate in the fictional town of Peng-lai. On a visit to a senior magistrate he is shown a beautiful lacquer screen which is mysteriously altered to show a murder scene instead of a love scene. With the senior magistrate convinced he is going insane, a wealthy banker in town does kill himself, or is it murder? Judge Dee and his faithful servant Chiao Tai go undercover and join a gang of robbers to solve the case.
The town of Peng-lai was the setting for other Judge Dee stories including:
The Chinese Gold Murders , and three of the short stories fromJudge Dee at Work .
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