“One of the most satisfyingly devious of the Judge Dee novels, with unusual historical richness in its portrayal of the China of the T’ang dynasty.”
 

New York Times Book Review

”Even Judge Dee is baffled by Robert van Gulik’s new mysteries in The Lacquer Screen. Disguised as a petty crook, he spends a couple of precarious days in the headquarters of the underworld, hobnobbing with the robber king. Dee’s lively thieving friends furnish some vital clues to this strange and fascinating jigsaw.”

The Spectator

”So scrupulously in the classic Chinese manner yet so nicely equipped with everything to satisfy the modern reader.”

New York Times

“The China of old, in Mr. van Gulik’s skilled hands, comes vividly alive again.”

Allen J. Hubin | New York Times Book Review

“If you have not yet discovered Judge Dee and his faithful Sgt. Hoong, I envy you that initial pleasure which comes from the discovery of a great detective story. For the magistrate of Poo-yang belongs in that select group of fictional detectives headed by the renowned Sherlock Holmes.”

Robert Hirsch | Los Angeles Times

“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