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5.0 out of 5 stars
First of an excellent series:, Jun 22 2001
By A Customer
If you appreciate fiction that exposes you to nonfiction aspects of foreign cultures, you will like these books. For example, if you liked the Sjowall/Wahloo Swedish mysteries, you'll like this series, too. (Just as "deep" analyzing human existence via crime, but not so dark -- in part because Stockholm in the 70's was socialist gray, and Amsterdam was a lot more colorful!) Similarly, if you like Melville's Japanese mysteries, you'll like this series. (If it *has* to be about Japan, get this author's book "Inspector Saito's Small Satori" instead.)Normally I hate reviews that summarize, but since the editorial review above just says "launching Cahners series", here is an excerpt from the flyleaf of the original 1975 printing: "... here is the first of a delightful new series of detective novels by a Dutch writer who combines a background in Zen philosophy with his experience on the Amsterdam police force. The owner of a sleazy restaurant-cum-commune in the old quarter of Amsterdam is dead; his body hangs from a rafter, at first glance a suicide, at second a murder. The police call in Detective Grijpstra, a mild-mannered, middle-aged family man with tired feet and a bemused soul, and his partner, de Gier, a bachelor with a philosophical turn of mind who shares his modish apartment with a wayward Siamese cat and occasion such women as are not allergic to it. The clues are plentiful enough to be puzzling and lead to a juicy variety of suspects and helpers including a native Papuan -- former member of the Dutch Constabulary in New Guinea, the 'outsider' of the title. The plot is as full of unexpected twists and turns as Amsterdam itself, the climax is exciting, and the conclusion will surprise and satisfy connoisseurs of detective fiction as well as loving observers of human nature."
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