The first novel in the acclaimed VAN DER VALK series – now a major new ITV series starring Marc Warren
‘Masterful’ SUNDAY TIMES
‘Freeling’s Inspector Van der Valk is less rugged than Rebus, less parsonical than Dalgliesh, more Morse than Frost, and more Maigret than any of them. Marvellous’ – Anita Brookner
‘Freeling is a joy to read’ TLS
‘You’re in for a treat’ COSMOPOLITAN
A woman, Elsa, is brutally murdered in her Amsterdam apartment. Her ex-lover, Martin, is seen outside the building around the time of the crime. The witness who saw him? A policeman.
It looks like a straightforward case – but police inspector Van der Valk is not convinced. Despite all the evidence – and the fact that Martin originally denied he was at the apartment – he believes Martin is not guilty of murder. Instead of charging him, Van der Valk takes him on a tour: a tour of the investigation; a tour of Martin’s own past; and a tour into the darkly obsessive world of Elsa…
‘Masterful’ SUNDAY TIMES
‘Freeling’s Inspector Van der Valk is less rugged than Rebus, less parsonical than Dalgliesh, more Morse than Frost, and more Maigret than any of them. Marvellous’ – Anita Brookner
‘Freeling is a joy to read’ TLS
‘You’re in for a treat’ COSMOPOLITAN
A woman, Elsa, is brutally murdered in her Amsterdam apartment. Her ex-lover, Martin, is seen outside the building around the time of the crime. The witness who saw him? A policeman.
It looks like a straightforward case – but police inspector Van der Valk is not convinced. Despite all the evidence – and the fact that Martin originally denied he was at the apartment – he believes Martin is not guilty of murder. Instead of charging him, Van der Valk takes him on a tour: a tour of the investigation; a tour of Martin’s own past; and a tour into the darkly obsessive world of Elsa…
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Reviews
Freeling is the only British novelist of consequence to have tackled modern Europe
He was the most thoroughly European of British crime writers
Elegant style and continually interesting narrative which give his novels their special flavour
Freeling's Inspector Van der Valk is less rugged than Rebus, less parsonical than Dalgliesh, more Morse than Frost, and more Maigret than any of them. Marvellous
Freeling is a joy to read
Freeling writes like no one else
If you've never heard of Nicolas Freeling you're in for a treat. Read one and you'll want to get all the Freelings
No one writing in the field can equal Freeling's depth and variety
The air of civilised urbanity that runs through Freeling's books is to most detective novels what Henry James is to Zane Grey
There can be no doubt Mr Freeling is a genuinely masterful novelist
A slim, intense story of sexual obsession. It changed my ideas about the possibilities of crime fiction
