The Chinese Lake Murders. This novel I drafted in New Delhi in 1
952,for eventual publication in Chinese. Other matters inter-
fered,however,and I did not have a second look at this ms. until
1957,when I was serving as Netherlands Minister in Libanon and
Syria,and when my publishers wanted a new Judge Dee novel. I then
rewrote the novel entirely, giving it a new beginning and making
the silk-dealer Liu Fei-po the culprit,instead of the rather
obvious State Counsellor.Although a better novel than the Bell
and the Maze murders, I think it is too complicated and far too
long. I plan to rewrite this novel some day in a simplified
form.