Tumbleweed by Janwillem van de Wetering

First Line: Adjutant-Detective Grijpstra felt that this was not the best morning of the year.

Maria van Burne is a beautiful, high-class prostitute who's been stabbed to death on her houseboat which is moored in a canal in Amsterdam. It is up to police detectives Grijpstra and de Gier to solve her murder. While they interview suspects with iron-clad alibis and make trips to an island off the coast of the Netherlands, their commissaris will find himself investigating allegations of black magic and traveling to Curaçao.

It had been several years since I first sampled the Grijpstra and de Gier series of Janwillem van de Wetering, so I thought I'd better pick up the second book, Tumbleweed. The book concentrates on the mystery and moves very quickly, and I discovered that, although a great deal of time had passed since I read that first book, I soon felt right at home.

Grijpstra is the older of the two detectives. He's married and a grouch. De Gier is single and likes to dress fashionably. They work together well and I liked both characters, but I have to admit that their superior officer the commissaris (who is never mentioned by name) was my favorite. The commissaris is an older man who's crippled by rheumatism yet not ready to retire. He has a lively mind and is interested in almost everything, and when he sent officers back to photograph the dead woman's bookshelves because "I am always interested in what people read," I was completely won over.  Later on, his attitude toward travel was merely icing on the cake.

The mystery in Tumbleweed is intriguing, and the book reads quickly. Even though the emphasis is on the story, the characters are beguiling, and you can't help wanting to know more about them. One thing I do know for certain: I'll be grabbing the next book in the series in order to continue my literary love affair with the commissaris!

Tumbleweed by Janwillem van de Wetering

ISBN: 1569470189

Soho Press © 2003

(Originally published 1976)

 Paperback, 225 pages

Police Procedural, #2 Grijpstra & de Gier mystery

Rating: B

Source: Paperback Swap

Outsider in Amsterdam by Janwillem van de Wetering

Title: Outsider in Amsterdam
Author: Janwillem van de Wetering
ISBN: 1569470170, Soho Crime, 2003
Genre: Police Procedural, #1 Grijpstra & de Gier mystery
Rating: B-

First Line: The Volkswagen was parked on the wide sidewalk of the Haarlemmer Houttuinen, opposite number 5, and it was parked the way it shouldn't be parked.

Piet Verboom is found hanging from a beam in his sixteenth-century gabled house on a quiet narrow street in Amsterdam. Verboom was the leader of something called the Hindist Society, and the house contains a shop, a bar and a restaurant. His staff were followers in the society and were paid nothing. Verboom was turning a tidy little profit and had quite the lifestyle for himself. Why would he throw a rope over a beam and hang himself? The two Dutch policemen assigned to the case, Adjutant Grijpstra and Sergeant de Gier, don't think he did. Fortunately a person renting space in the house, Jan Karel van Meteren, is very observant and very helpful. With van Meteren's aid, hopefully they will solve the case without putting too many miles on their Volkswagen:

"This road doesn't go to Aerdenhout," said Grijpstra.

"Ah yes. We'll take a turning to the left."

"There are no turnings on the left on this road."

"Then we'll turn around," de Gier said happily.

"You should watch where you're going."

"So should you."

They found the right road, they found Aerdenhout, but they didn't find the mental home. Eventually they found the police station and were shown the right way.

"If the civilians knew how silly their police are they would commit more crimes," Grijpstra said.

Originally published in 1975, Outsider in Amsterdam really didn't feel dated to me, although I do have to admit that my cell phone is seldom turned on which probably doesn't make me the best of judges. The pacing of the book seemed a bit ponderous, and it was difficult to pinpoint the reason. Van de Wetering lived in Maine for many years, so blaming a translator isn't feasible. Possibly the slowness could just be a case of an author thinking in one language and writing in another. Most readers can only dream of having a problem like this.

Whatever the cause, the slowness was only a minor annoyance because the author serves up a veritable feast: the city and culture of Amsterdam itself, two wonderful characters in Grijpstra and de Gier, and a likable villain. In this book, it's not so much a matter of "who" done it, but "how" he did it... and is he going to get away with it? Lately I've been reading of too many bad guys for whom I've only felt disgust. It was fun to read about one I came very close to admiring.

Outsider in Amsterdam is a good start to the adventures of Grijpstra and de Gier. I intend to follow the series to its end.