Robert van Gulik with wife Shui Shih-fang 1946
Sample of authors
Gulik, Robert van
Robert Hans van Gulik was born in Zutphen, the Netherlands, and grew up in Batavia (now Jakarta) in the former Dutch East Indies, where his father served as a medical officer in the Dutch Army. Van Gulik’s father collected Chinese porcelain and passed his interest on to his son who taught himself Mandarin. Robert van Gulik was fascinated by Chinese history and culture, and he became an authority o...
Literary figures
Richard Jury
Gender: Male
A melancholic and reasonably gloomy commissioner: this is explained by the author Martha Grimes by the fact that Richard Jury - the first name is rarely mentioned - was orphaned during the Second World War and had an unhappy upbringing. He is in the younger middle age, has auburn hair and a winning smile. He shys away from women and relationships, but likes children and gets along well with them.