Sand Castles — Nicolas Freeling

Inspector Piet van der Valk of the Amsterdam police was one of the best-loved detectives of modern crime fiction -- before his creator murdered him in a 1972 novel. Now Nicolas Freeling brings van der Valk back -- in a brilliant adventure that takes place prior to his untimely death.

The wet, windy weather of April, smattered with intermittent bursts of sunshine, is perfect for a relaxing holiday along the north Holland coast -- or would be, if van der Valk's very first evening walk did not lead him into the thick of a nasty little protection racket: decent family men paying good money for highly indecent photos...

Soon after, he and wife, Arlette, fall into adventure number two -- when they meet up with the suntanned owner of a gleaming new Mercedes on the deck of a local ferry. Why would this powerful businessman choose to make his home on a remote island? And who is his sinister, Elmer Gantry-like houseguest?

Events move with great rapidity and mounting suspense -- bird-watchers act like spies, dead bodies vanish among the dunes, a coven of right-wing fanatics carries out an assassination attempt in a sacred grove -- until the climax, among the balcony flowerpots of the van der Valks' Amsterdam apartment.