Van de Valk is an unfailingly odd character, and Freeling exploits the idiosyncrasies thoroughly. In fact, the reader is once again as intrigued with the author’s vision for the story—how it was evolved, what might have inspired it—as with the story itself. Some of the hero’s experiences, both trivial (viz linguistic tangles) and significant (viz extramarital tangles) are so vividly evoked that one cannot conceive they are purely fictive. The very odd characters that people this story, the ‘lovely ladies of Belgrave Square’ and particularly their father, the deceased, seem exaggerated to the point of being symbols, leading to the question of whether the plot might not have been based on some classical Greek tragedy or something. It is a nice authorial touch (though somewhat niggling to a reader) that the central murder mystery is never fully unraveled, and therein perhaps lies the writer’s real accomplishment. ( )

An Inspector Van der Valk mystery, set in Amsterdam. "The elderly man dropped dead in the marketplace in Amsterdam. It was assumed that he'd been run over, but Inspector Van der Valk, who happened to be passing by, found the handle of an antique dagger protruding from the man's vest. When the victim was identified, van der Valk came to realize that the key to the murder was with his three daughters who lived in Dublin. And so he went to Ireland..." - jacket notes from the Vintage paperback edition.
This is a good "noir" mystery series, rather violent and grim, but well plotted. ( )