DeKok and the Sorrowing Tomcat
A Mystery
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Albert Cornelis Baantjer is the Netherland's most widely read author and his hero DeKok is adored and highly praised. The cases DeKok faces are so real that sometimes he and his creator are thought to be the same person since Baantjer worked as a homicide detective in Amsterdam for twenty-five years.
In this latest adventure to make it overseas, DeKok investigates the murder of a young conman with whom he used to deal.
On the sand dunes that protect the low lands of the Netherlands, an early morning jogger makes a gruesome discovery-the body of a man with a dagger protruding from his back. The corpse of Peter Geffel, better known as "Cunning" Pete, is identified, but the local police cannot find any clues.
When the call goes out to notify other jurisdictions of the discovery, Homicide Detective DeKok feels drawn to the case because he knew the victim. Along with his inseparable side-kick Vledder, DeKok searches the city of Amsterdam for answers. Soon there is another corpse and, unlikely as it may seem, the killing of Cunning Pete is connected to a killing in higher social circles.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
``Cunning Pete'' Geffel is the type of lowlife crook Detective-Inspector DeKok likes. An ``innocent blackmailer,'' Geffel plays by a set of ambiguous moral rules that are always shifting but that cry out for vengeance when violated. Now, someone has violated them--with a dagger right between Geffel's shoulder blades, and DeKok is about to jump into the fray when ordered by his superior to investigate a $3 million robbery. Soon the two investigations intertwine and the plot's twists and turns include the discovery of a suspect's body in a car, atop a pile of $750,000 in bills. DeKok is up to his old tricks: staging an arrest, breaking and entering, drinking Cognac at Little Lowee's criminal hangout. DeKok also receives help from a source he'd rather not have: Geffel's revenge-seeking girlfriend. In the end, however, the inspector's solution relies on his knowledge of those ambiguous moral rules by which Amsterdam's petty crooks and red-light-district denizens abide. This formulaic entry is far from Baantjer's ( DeKok and the Dead Harlequin ) best, but the pages turn easily and DeKok's offbeat personality keeps readers interested. 35,000 first printing; author tour.
