Eurocrime
3 total works
The latest novel from the creator of the Van der Valk and Castaing detective series and the first of Arcadia's new EuroCrime series. A young woman is found dead in the Dutch dunes - it is pretty obvious who did it but why?
As usual, Van der Valk's approach to the case is both unorthodox and intensely human. He immerses himself in the lives of his suspects, and in the small town atmosphere of the seaside resort where they live., and cracks the facade of respectability behind which they hide. Under his obsessive probing the mystery is eventually unraveled, but not before there has been a final explosion of violence as the cats act to defend themselves.
A modern comedy, as ironic as Jane''s own. But this is also a tale of love and death in the cynical political worlds of Strasbourg and Paris. As we discover, There''s no one like Jane in a tight place. William doesn''t lurk and neither does he stalk; it gets noticed. Incompetent and illegal, and he has no intention of disturbing Doctor Holier-than-Thou - or not for the moment; that''s the fellow who would be quick to make a complaint and he''s no longer a serving cop: status dodgy. He''ll pounce though on poor Mireille. She''s easy to spot; the studio is in the Robertsau quarter for prestige and she has a little Spider, Italian racing red, old but bold. She''s also very pretty - really Ray has good taste, he thinks when she looms. He looms too, large and cop-like. . . . A man as young and robust as William might get cancer, and a doctor like Raymond find Jane Austen a better treatment than chemicals. But who beat up Raymond on a dark street? Who set William''s house on fire? Had that to do with loving William''s wife?