Because of the Cats
Posted: 2019/06/18 Filed under: Book Reviews, BookLust I, E-Books, Fiction | Tags: 2019, Amsterdam, book lust i, book review, crime, Fiction, may, mystery, Nicholas Freeling, series Leave a commentFreeling, Nicholas. Because of the Cats. New York: Penguin Books, 1963.
Reason read: to continue the series started in honor of May 15th – May 21st being Police Week.
Whenever an author takes you on a journey to describe the landscape I always imagine a giant bird flying over the land. For the first few pages of Because of the Cats you get that same sensation. The reader looks down on the bigger picture of where the story takes place, this time in the small town of Bloemendaal. It is a simple place usually bereft of crime. Chief Inspector Piet Van der Valk is back on the case when a rash of burglaries escalates to rape in his jurisdiction. As Chief Inspector of the Morals and Children department his focus turns to a group of teens from Bloemendaal. This seems impossible as the town is virtually crime free and all of the suspects are rich. Why would they need to commit break-ins? Why? Because of the cats!
Because prostitution is legal in Amsterdam, law enforcement have a different relationship with the ladies of the night. Van der Valk allows Fedora to pick him up and bring him home for dinner. He even tells her, “You don’t bother my morals” (p 17). Pay attention to this woman for she is essential to the case.
The first reference to cats is when one of the rapists declares, “the cats won’t like it” (p 11).
Quote I liked, “It was, he knew from experience, fatal to fall in love with a theory” (p 25).
Author fact: when Love in Amsterdam was published and it became a success, Freeling said he was able to stop cooking other people’s dinners.
Book trivia: Because of the Cats was made into a Dutch-Belgium movie in 1973.
Nancy said: Pearl admitted Because of the Cats was one of the best mysteries because she admitted to feeling creeped-out when she finished it. If you can remember the sensation long after you have finished the book, that’s the sign of a good plot.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “I Love a Mystery” (p 119).
Love in Amsterdam
Posted: 2019/06/05 Filed under: Book Reviews, BookLust I, Fiction | Tags: 2019, Amsterdam, book lust i, book review, Fiction, may, murder, mystery, Nicholas Freeling Leave a commentFreeling, Nicholas. Love in Amsterdam. New York: Harper & Row, 1962.
Reason read: Police Week is May 15th – 20th…or something like that.
When we meet first Martin he has already been locked up for two weeks for allegedly murdering his ex-lover, Elsa.
In the first sections of Love in Amsterdam Inspector Van der Valk is an unusual cop with unorthodox methods of investigation. It is up to him to solve the crime and I have to admit, he is the most interesting part of the whole story. His philosophy this: it doesn’t matter whether Martin says or believes he is innocent or if he is in fact guilty as all get out. Inspector Van der Valk is going to let Martin into his confidences and listen to every rambling theory. He is going to allow Martin in on every part of the detailed investigation because the more he and Martin spend together the more the truth will emerge. Sooner or later Inspector Van der Valk will get his man. It is an unusual way to go about solving a crime, allowing his best suspect to be an active part of the investigation, but it works.
The second part of Love in Amsterdam is all about Martin’s past revealing motive for the murder: how he knew the victim, the subsequent relationship they had, and how it all fell apart in the end. Is this section supposed to cast doubt on Martin’s innocence?
The final section is a frantic wrapping up of the case. The murderer is revealed and Inspector Van der Valk gets his man.
Stanley Ellin said it best when he described Love in Amsterdam as having “the sinister, spellbinding perfection of a cobra uncoiling.” That is definitely true for the first part of the story.
Quotes to quote, “Dead bodies are not frightening nor are they communicative” (p 21) and “Professor Comenius watched everything with slightly protuberant, healthy lobster eyes” (p 142).
Author fact: Freeling was British, lived in Holland, and died in France.
Book trivia: Love in Amsterdam was Freeling’s first book. It was made into a television show for the BBC as well.
Nancy said: Pearl said “Freeling’s psychological mysteries…remain a classic of the genre” ( Book Lust p 120).
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the obvious chapter called “I Love a Mystery” (p 117).
