Book #33

[katikat]

"Necklace and Calabash" by Robert Van Gulik

Judge Dee goes undercover! Man, for a judge, Dee sure gets around, doesn't he? This time he has to find a precious necklace that was stolen from the Third Princess and that could cause dissent at the imperial court. In this book, Dee has to rely only on himself, neither his trusted bodyguards nor his secretary are there to aid him. And all he wanted was to go fishing...

I just love Robert Van Gulik's books. The characters are so alive and the settings, the atmosphere of the various places that Judge Dee visits, are so well described that they just draw you right in.