Death at the Orange Locks — Anja de Jager

'A novel brilliantly evoking the isolation of a woman with an unbearable weight on her conscience' Sunday Times

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Keeping it in the family...

After her painful divorce four years ago, Lotte Meerman has kept well away from Arjen, her ex-husband, and his new wife Nadia. So when they both visit her at central Amsterdam's police station to report Nadia's father missing, Lotte is shocked - but hides it well.

Then two days later a dog walker reports the discovery of a body near the Orange Locks, built to keep the sea out of Amsterdam, and the missing man is identified as Nadia's father. Lotte wants to stay away from the investigation but his widow, Margreet, keeps searching her out as she has no idea it was her daughter who was pivotal in the marriage break-up. She wrongly identifies Lotte as a friend and tells her that Patrick had been a great husband and father, and a successful businessman. But when Lotte digs into Patrick's past, she discovers instead a failing company and a man with a history of making unwanted sexual advances to his female employees.

Margreet is unaware of any of this. And the more Lotte investigates the dead man's past, the more she finds to suggest that her ex-husband is somehow involved in his death...

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Praise for Anja de Jager:

'Succeeds as a portrait of both a city and, in its heroine, a delightfully dysfunctional personality'
Sunday Express

'Impressive' The Times