Book Review: Murder in Amsterdam

Reviewed By: Gina Metz - RAM

Murder in Amsterdam     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
A. C. Baantjer
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Series: Dekok
Intrigue Press, 1981, 263 pages

This is a first translation of Dutch author, A. C. Baantjer’s work into English. It contains two mysteries featuring Inspector Dekok. The first is The Sunday Strangler in which someone is strangling prostitutes in Amsterdam’s famous Red Light District on Sundays. Dekok is called back from vacation to help with the investigation when the other detectives are getting nowhere with the first victim. The second story, The Corpse on Christmas Eve, is the investigation into the death of a pregnant nineteen year old girl who has been strangled and her body has been dumped into the canal.

Although I had the murderer figured out long before he was ever revealed in either story, and I imagine anyone who reads many mysteries would also, I loved the writing and the characters and it did not detract from my enjoyment of the stories at all. Inspector Dekok is a wonderful character full of depth that is revealed to you more in each story.

He works with his partner and protégé, Vledder who seems about lost most of the time. Dekok is probably the oldest detective on the force but has a great reputation for solving crimes so he is allowed a great deal of leeway in his investigations and behavior. Vledder follows him around trying to learn how to become a great detective himself. However, Vledder is usually way behind Dekok and is often scared to try to handle anything on his own, and gets quite irritated that Dekok does not explain what he is thinking and why he wants him to perform various tasks in an investigation. He does discuss this irritation with Dekok, who explains to him that he does not tell him what he is thinking as he wants him to learn to think on his own.

It appears that there is quite a back list of Dekok mysteries that I look forward to finding and reading. I truly enjoyed both stories and wish to learn more about the lives of Dekok and Vledder.

Gina Metz - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Gina Metz - RAM