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The Red Pavilion

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The Red Pavilion
recent University of Chicago Press edition - 1998
University of Chicago Press - 1998
AuthorRobert van Gulik
Cover artistEd Lindlof
SeriesJudge Dee
GenreMystery, Detective Novel
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press
Publication date
1964
Media typePrint (Paperback)
Pages173 pp (paperback edition)
ISBNISBN 0-226-84873-6 Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character
Preceded byThe Lacquer Screen 
Followed byThe Monkey and the Tiger 

The Red Pavilion is a detective novel written by Robert van Gulik and set in Imperial China (roughly speaking the Tang Dynasty). It is a fiction based on the real character of Judge Dee (Ti Jen-chieh or Di Renjie), a magistrate and statesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly 630700.

The book features six illustrations by the author and a map of Paradise Island (the setting for the story).

Plot introduction

Judge Dee, the magistrate of Poo-yang, has an unexpected meeting with the most powerful and famous courtesan on Paradise Island, Autumn Moon. Then, a man who was well known to be studying to pass the Imperial exams dies, was it suicide or was he murdered? His last week was spent in the company of Autumn Moon. Only a few hours later, she herself is found dead and Judge Dee is drawn into a web of lies and sad stories in the world of the prostitutes of Imperial China.

Poo-yang was the setting for many Judge Dee stories including: The Chinese Bell Murders, Necklace and Calabash, Poets and Murder, and The Emperor's Pearl.