Trisha Shetty (Editor)

The Lacquer Screen

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Series
  
Judge Dee

Media type
  
Print

Author
  
Robert van Gulik


Publication date
  
1962

Originally published
  
1962

Followed by
  
The Emperor's Pearl

The Lacquer Screen t3gstaticcomimagesqtbnANd9GcRd161u9trxb5thCt

Publisher
  
Art Printing Works, Kuala Lumpur

Preceded by
  
The Chinese Nail Murders: Judge Dee's Last Three Cases

Genres
  
Gong'an fiction, Mystery, Detective fiction, Chinese crime fiction

Similar
  
Works by Robert van Gulik, Judge Dee mystery books, Gong'an fiction books

The Lacquer Screen is a gong'an detective novel written by Robert van Gulik and set in Imperial China (roughly speaking the Tang Dynasty). It is a fiction based on the real character of Judge Dee (Ti Jen-chieh or Di Renjie), a magistrate and statesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly 630–700.

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 from Judge Dee at Work.

References

The Lacquer Screen Wikipedia