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Portrait image of Robert van Gulik 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...

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Literary figures

Jeffrey Rand

Gender: Male

He was originally called C. Jeffery Rand, but after a while Edward D. Hoch changed the name of his agent, who is the boss of a secret department in the British intelligence services and whose speciality is breaking codes. He is a middle-aged gentleman and he retires after marrying archaeologist Leila Gaad. He is, however, often asked to help solve cases, including strange murders.

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