The Blond Baboon

A wild storm rocks Amsterdam and at the end of the storm the body of Elaine Carnet, successful businesswoman and former Paris torch singer, is found with a broken neck at the foot of her garden steps. Was she killed by a gust of wind? If so, who was smoking the cigarettes that they found in her house?Grijpstra and de Gier are called in to figure out who was behind the murder.Van De Wetering's novels are always among the best mysteries around. His characters are meditative in a way that feels authentic. He manages to put a human face on brutality while still somehow underlying the brutality. Even sensational endings feel like inevitable parts of a story rather than a novelists trick. Well worth a read for people who don't know them.

This is one of my favorites in this series. Terrific Amsterdam villians and weird introspective police abound, as always.