Necklace and Calabash - (Judge Dee Mysteries) by Robert Van Gulik (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A fiendishly clever puzzle mystery starring the beloved detective Judge Dee, whom the Los Angeles Times ranked with Sherlock Holmes

Necklace and Calabash finds Judge Dee returning to his district of Poo-yang, where the peaceful town of Riverton promises a few days' fishing and relaxation. Yet a chance meeting with a Taoist recluse, a gruesome body fished out of the river, strange guests at the Kingfisher Inn, and a princess in distress thrust the judge into one of the most intricate and baffling mysteries of his career.

From the Back Cover

Due to its proximity to the Water Palace, the summer residence of the Emperor's favorite daughter, Riverton lies within a Special Area administered by the military. To Judge Dee, returning to his district of Poo-yang, the peaceful town promises a few days' fishing and relaxation. But it is not to be. A chance meeting with a Taoist recluse, a gruesome body fished out of the river, strange guests at the Kingfisher Inn, a princess in distress--before long the judge is facing one of the most intricate and baffling mysteries of his career.

Review Quotes

"Entertaining, instructive and oddly impressive. Judge Dee, the officers of his tribunal and the people with whom he and they are concerned are interesting folk, and the world of crime, mystery, violence, lust, corruption and ceremony in which they move is formidably picturesque."-- "Times Literary Supplement"

"Judge Dee belongs in that select group of fictional detectives headed by the renowned Sherlock Holmes. I assure you it is a compliment not given frivolously."

--Robert Kirsch "Los Angeles Times"

"The China of old, in Mr. van Gulik's skilled hands, comes vividly alive again."--Allen J. Hubin "New York Times Book Review"

About the Author

Robert Van Gulik (1910-67) was a Dutch diplomat and an authority on Chinese history and culture. He drew his plots from the whole body of Chinese literature, especially from the popular detective novels that first appeared in the seventeenth century.