The Volkswagen was parked on the wide sidewalk of the Haarlemmer Houttuinen, opposite number 5, and it was parked the way it shouldn't be parked.
The adjutant* had switched the engine off.
The adjutant hesitated.
He had arrived at his destination, Harrlemmer Houttuinen, number 5, and the high narrow gable house was waiting for him. He studied the gable house and frowned. The house had a body in it, a dead body, suspended. The body was bound to be turning slowly. Bodies, suspended by the neck, are never quite still.
*Dutch municipal police ranks are constable, constable first class, sergeant, adjutant, inspector, chief inspector, commissairs. An adjutant is a noncommissioned officer.
I was intrigued by the last part of the first sentence. It says something about the driver, doesn't it? And then the hanging bodies never being 'still' - just the slightest bit creepy, and something we don't always think about. I love that little asterisk and the information about police ranks. I wish more books offered such details. I've spent a fair bit of my English mystery reading time trying to figure out all the police titles like Detective Inspector and Chief Inspector.
For other book beginnings this Friday, please do visit Rose City Reader.
Addendum: If you go here, you may read Janice's post on the same book Peggy wrote about, The Maine Massacre.
I adore this series, it's one of my absolute favourites, but they've been hard to get here in recent years (I read them from the library originally). I am slowly begin to amass a collection of them again - they get more and more absorbing as it progresses and the relationships between the detectives and the commisaris are explored. I do hope you'll love them too!
ReplyDeleteI am so pleased you wrote to tell me. I'm planning to ILL the second in the season, and then go through them all!
DeleteI like your choice and hope that it continues to be a great read!!
ReplyDeleteHave you heard of this series?
DeleteI've written the name of this down, sounds like something I'd enjoy. I hope AbeBooks has it. Nan, I don't have a clue what ILL is??
ReplyDeleteIt is Inter Library Loan, a wonderful, wonderful program through the library system.
DeleteThe story sounds intriguing although the writing in the opening isn't impressing me. Maybe it gets better?
ReplyDeleteMy post is from MIDWIVES.
I found the quiet beginning most appealing. :<)
DeleteI LOVE Midwives; one of my favorite books, and the only CB I've read.
I was on Dorothy-L during my first years on the internet too......And then, what happened? Did it become full of flame wars and I just left? Do you know the Stop, You're Killing Me website?
ReplyDeleteI used to read some of this author'w work, but I am wondering if he had books set in Asia, too.....Have to check.
I think for me it was just too much to read. And once I began reading blogs, I got all the information I needed about mysteries.
DeleteI do know that site. It is great.
The book Peggy wrote about was set in Maine, and I read that the author lived there. He had traveled all over the world so I wouldn't be surprised if there is a book set in Asia.
I've read a few of his mystery novels, and enjoyed each. I wrote about one in my Reading Diary. But I first read his memoirs as a Zen Buddhist monk - "A Glimpse of Nothingness" (experiences in an American Zen Community) and "The Empty Mirror", in a Japanese Zen Monastery
ReplyDeleteVery, very interesting. That sensibility is in this mystery.
DeleteI will have a look for this book! Thanks for the introduction, Nan!
ReplyDeleteI would guess you might find it particularly interesting.
DeleteGlad you are enjoying the book! I cleaned out my bookshelves the other day and I found another one in this series that I forgot I had! Every time I clean out the bookshelves its like Christmas!
ReplyDeleteHow delightful!! Which one did you find? I plan to ILL the second, Tumbleweed.
DeleteIt is interesting to me how similar our tastes and experiences are, Nan, if one can judge from a blog. JanWillem van de Wetering has been on my To Read list forever, and I'm pretty sure I have several of his books on my shelf upstairs waiting the right moment. Perhaps the time has come!
ReplyDeleteI think blogs are pretty accurate representations of the writer, don't you?!
DeleteThe book is different from any mystery I've ever read. I really do like it.