Robert van Gulik (August 9, 1910 - September 24, 1967) was a highly educated orientalist and diplomat from the Netherlands, who wrote 16 or more mysteries about Judge Dee, a Confucian magistrate.
Judge Dee was a fictional character from early chinese literature, apparently based on a real statesman and detective who lived in the seventh century. Van Gulik's novels take place in a later era in ancient China. They are outstanding in their depiction of the society of the time.
