Having thus attained my main object, it occurred to me that also Western readers might perhaps be interested in this new type of crime novel. Therefore I decided to publish my English text of 'The Chinese Maze Murders', an additional motive being that the Chinese element has been introduced so often by Western writers of detective stories that I thought that the reader might be interested in seeing how it looks in genuine Chinese garb.

For information on the background of the present novel and the Chinese sources utilized the reader is referred to my Postscript at the end of the book. Here it may suffice to say that I borrowed three plots from ancient Chinese sources, rewriting them as one continuous story centering round the famous ancient Chinese master-detective Judge Dee. I retained the typical features of old Chinese detective novels, such as the prologue which gives some idea of the main events of the story itself, the chapter headings in two parallel lines, the peculiar Chinese device of letting the

detective solve a number of cases simultaneously, etc., and in general tried to preserve as much as possible Chinese style and atmosphere.

The scene of my story is laid in Lan-fang, an imaginary border town of China during the seventh century A.D. The reader will find a Chinese map of that city on page xiv of the present publication. The plates were drawn by me in the style of book-illustrations of the Ming Dynasty.

All the credit of what may be found satisfactory in this novel must go to the ancient Chinese writers who evolved the plots. All its shortcomings must be blamed on the present author.

The Hague, spring 1956

Robert van Gulik

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

It should be noted that in Chinese the surname, here printed in capitals, precedes the personal name.

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