The Lacquer Screen

by Robert Van Gulik Book 8 in the Judge Dee Mysteries series.

First published 1962

Amazon

4.1(1,896)

Early in his career, Judge Dee visits Magistrate Teng and is shown a lacquer screen whose image of two lovers appears to have changed into a scene of murder. Teng fears that mental illness will drive him to kill his wife, while the apparently inexplicable suicide of a wealthy banker presents a second problem for the visiting judge.

Dee and Chiao Tai disguise themselves as petty criminals and enter the local underworld, where a robber chief proves more honourable than several respectable officials. The altered screen, a woman mistaken for a courtesan and the banker’s finances eventually reveal how public reputation can conceal exploitation and murder.