The Corpse on the Dike

I really enjoy the way that Van De Wetering handles the police procedural from the Dutch POV. Like Freeling and Simenon, his characters tend to live more in the lives of the commonplace than exploring sensational serial murders.In this novel, a virtual hermit is killed by a single shot-- very un-Dutch in a country where firearms are so controlled. It takes you through the underbelly of Amsterdam into houses of prostitution, the world of grey market electronics, and into the house of a flamboyant possible villain named Cat. Not my favorite Grijpstra and de Gier (that honor still goes to _Death of a Hawker_) but still a great example of the series.

The Corpse on the Dyke was the very first of the Amsterdam Cops series that I read, initially intrigued on the extremely pulpy title! This was in the 1970s and the first copy I bought was used. I was hooked and read all of them. I love the characters, particularly the Commisaris, and the tales progress in such an unconventional way. The conversations that take place are always worthwhile! I am presently reading them all again, loving them as much as I did 25 years ago. They are timeless.

I didn't know what to expect, as this was my first introduction to this author or any dutch author for that matter. This book grabs you and won't let go until the very end. Even then it is reluctant. You immeadiately bond with the two qwirky detectives as they discover clues concerning a rare homicide in Amsterdam, and they discover themselves. Outstanding, interesting, offbeat and just plain fun. Worth the time.

I ran into this author by accident, browsing in the mystery category, and I am delighted that I did. This is the second book I've read from the Amsterdam Cops series, and I plan to read them all! The characters are people you'd like to get to know -- believable and quirky. The plot of this particular book takes the reader inside the physical geography of Amsterdam as well as into the minds and world views of the detectives. A man who seems to have no connection to anyone else has been murdered in a run-down house along a city canal. The detectives weave in and out of the Dutch underworld to find the guilty parties. Absolutely delightful and mysterious