Necklace and Calabash is set in the town adjacent to the Water Palace, home of the Emperor's favorite daughter. The Princess counts on Judge Dee to retrieve her stolen pearls and rescue her from a sinister net of intrigue. 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."So scrupulously in the classic Chinese manner yet so nicely equipped with everything to satisfy the modern reader."--New York Times"This Chinese detective story solved by Judge Dee is, alas, the last we shall have from Dr. van Gulike, whose . . . death must be lamented by all connoisseurs of recherche detective fiction."--Times Literary Supplement