The Willow Pattern

As Judge Dee copes with the administration of the plague-ridden Imperial Capital, he must also bring his skills to bear on the mystery of two seemingly unconnected murders that could mean the extinction of the city's oldest, most aristocratic families.

"All the charm, cruelty and fragile magic of China in the Tang Dynasty."—Chicago Sun-Times

"A tense and exotic mystery."—Publishers Weekly

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 popular detective novels that appeared in the seventeenth century.