Van der Valk Books
Freeling's first novel is told from the perspective of the prime suspect, who is caught in a web of seemingly incontestable circumstantial evidence, evidence so overwhelming that he begins to doubt himself. But Inspector Van der Valk comes to the rescue in a dashing and charming style.
Bloemendaal aan Zee, that smugly prosperous little seaside town, has more television sets per capita than anywhere else in Holland. Even its drunks are polite, its houses uniformly tidy and sparkling clean. But there's something very wrong with the kids. The most popular teenagers have formed a gang that is preying, with increasing viciousness, on nearby Amsterdam, Inspector Van der Valk's patch. Van der Valk has no love for chilly, yuppified Bloemendaal. But his curiosity is as voracious as his appetite for good food. And while his colleagues just want the attacks stopped, Van der Valk can't help asking what it is about the town that has turned Bloemendaal's children into monsters.
Inspector Van der Valk's investigation of an apparently senseless slaying in Amsterdam leads him to France and Belgium
A Van der Valk Thriller - A disturbing, superb thriller from the pen of a master storyteller. A flurry of anonymous letters and two suicides leads Inspector Van der Valk to a mission in Drente where small-town hysteria may just lead to one of the century's most wanted criminals.
Van der Valk is on the case again as a mysterious letter is unearthed alluding to the murder of a man named Cabestan. In the letter, the murderer is named but van der Valk must find out first who this mysterious letter-writer is. What transpires is a tale of deception and adultery as the rich Carl Merckel, the managing director of the Lutz Brothers merchant bank, lays an accusation of cold blooded homicide of which, he claims, his wife had no part to play. A true master of popular crime fiction and creator of the ever-popular Inspector van der Valk and Henri Castang, Nicolas Freeling has written more than thirty books and has an innate empathy with France and its culture. Born in London in 1927, Freeling has lived much of his life in Europe, notably the Vosges hills and Strasbourg. An astute, gritty writer of European flavour, his novels reflect all that is great about crime fiction.
A Van der Valk Thriller - On a parched Spanish hillside, Van der Valk spills blood and splinters bone. A handsome millionaire is missing. A naked girl has disappeared with him. Van der Valk has the arduous task of finding out why and where they are. And some people would shoot him for trying.
A Van der Valk Thriller - How do you prove a murder that's almost impossible to prove was a murder? An elusive homicide evades even the most decisive guile from a true master of criminal investigation, but Van der Valk won't let that stop him. A seemingly unintended death of a local restaurant owner might not be as accidental as some would like it to appear, and when the suspicions of the Commissaire are aroused, Van der Valk is called in to ask some very awkward questions. A fascinating thriller that will leave you on the edge of your seat as Van der Valk probes the strangest of human behaviours.
When Esther Marx is found savagely murdered, mown down by machine-gun fire in her lacklustre apartment, the trail leads to the wide, shallow valley of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam, 1954. In this remarkable tale entwined with past and present, Freeling brings to life a classic story of murder and intrigue.
A mystery novel by the great author Nicholas Freeling.
The famous detective Piet Van der Valk has been kicked upstairs to a quiet desk job to work out his days until retirement. But he is still the maverick of the Amsterdam police force and too restless for paper work alone. A seemingly minor incident -- a young man concerned about a gold antique watch -- sets him off on a personal investigation that also involves his engaging French wife, Arlette. It is she who embarks on a quest that leads through the rarified world of art and antique dealers to a squalid sex shop -- "The Golden Apples of the Hesperides" -- as she scours Amsterdam for a nameless, faceless killer.
A Van der Valk Thriller - Arlette Van der Valk finds herself widowed from a man who left an indelible mark on the world of crime investigation. After her initial grief, Arlette is at a loose end - Piet was her life, but Van der Valk soon finds that making decisions help ease the pain. After remarrying, she sets up an advisory agency but things don't always run smoothly as this ingenious story shows. Not only dealing with her clients' problems, Arlette must also deal with threats to her life.
Shipped from UK, please allow 10 to 21 business days for arrival. Very Good, Published 1981 by Heinemann, 1st UK edition. D/J not price clipped but price has been blacked out on inside front flap. Pencil inscription on ffep reading "Happy Birthday/Love from Joanna/May 1981". Very small tear to D/J at top right corner of front cover.
The resurrected Amsterdam detective Peter Van der Valk returns to the crime beat to discover some upstanding citizens paying a blackmailer for photographs of them lying down--with women other than their wives