De Cock en dood door hamerslag by A.C. Baantjer

Why read the book?

The body of a diamond dealer from Antwerp is found in a squat on the Oostenburgergracht. There are no clear signs of a crime, but a large number of valuable diamonds from his firm have gone missing. The disappearance first belongs to Chief Commissioner Opdenbroecke of the Antwerp police, but he asks De Cock and Vledder to take it on.

The timing is bad for De Cock. He is already looking for a stalker who is bothering a woman in the Joh. Verhulststraat. He is also working on the murder of a young man, killed in a brutal way on the Westerdoksdijk.

The doctor calls it one of the worst murders he has ever seen. Rarely have De Cock and Vledder faced so many crimes in just a few days.

Favourite quote

What I Loved

The pleasure here is the pile-up of cases at once, and watching De Cock keep order while the work mounts. The return of the Antwerp link gives the book a wider reach than usual.

The Amsterdam canals and squats ground the story. De Cock's steady method holds the separate threads together.

Key Takeaway

Several cases at once do not break De Cock's calm. He works each one in turn until the diamonds and the deaths make sense.

Note

This book is only available in Dutch

Enjoyed this post?

Well, you could share the post with others, follow me with RSS Feeds and/or send me a comment via email.

Tags