Van der Valk-Love in Amsterdam

A Novel

By: Nicolas Freeling

Narrated by: Sam Devereaux

*INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER*

*NOW A LIMITED SERIES ON MASTERPIECE PBS*

Meet Van Der Valk, Amsterdam’s best detective, in Nicolas Freeling’s classic novel

A woman, Elsa, is brutally murdered in her Amsterdam apartment. Her ex-lover, Martin, is seen outside the building around the time of the crime. The witness who saw him? A policeman.

It looks like a straightforward case—but police inspector Van der Valk is not convinced. Despite all the evidence—and the fact that Martin originally denied he was at the apartment—he believes Martin is not guilty of murder. Instead of charging him, Van der Valk takes him on a tour: a tour of the investigation, a tour of Martin’s own past and a tour into the darkly obsessive world of Elsa…

1968

I ordered this book because I had watched the PBS series, which I really enjoyed. You can tell the book was written many, many years ago. I considered returning it, but decided to continue until the end to find out who murdered Elsa. Not a very exciting story and it revolved more around the suspect instead of Van Der Valk. I can not recommend the book because it is so dated. Some people may enjoy revisiting a much simpler time though.

Snoozefest

This is a very boring listen. The writing style and dialogue are stilted and awkward, perhaps due to the translation. At the same time, the narrator overcompensates with his character portrayals. I was not at all invested in learning the murderer.