First book in the Inspector van Veeteren series.

"'Don't you see, ' he'd have liked to ask her, 'don't you see, that if only you'd told me everything that first time we could have saved a life? Possibly two . . .'"

Janek Mitter stumbles into his bathroom one morning after a night of heavy drinking, to find his beautiful young wife, Eva, floating dead in the bath. She has been brutally murdered. Yet even during his trial Mitter cannot summon a single memory of attacking Eva, nor a clue as to who could have killed her if he had not. Only once he has been convicted and locked away in an asylum for the criminally insane does he have a snatch of insight - but is it too late?

Drawing a blank after exhaustive interviews, Chief Inspector Van Veeteren remains convinced that something, or someone, in the dead woman's life has caused these tragic events. But the reasons for her speedy remarriage have died with her. And as he delves even deeper, Van Veeteren realizes that the past never stops haunting the present . . .

I'm trying to reduce & NOT start another series, so this one's going a-travelling.

Thanks cats . . . although I shouldn’t be starting one either. 😉

Pam just finished reading this one and enjoyed it . . . an interesting story and a good read.

Enjoyed this one and although I wouldn’t necessarily search them out I would read others in the series if they came my way. It was an easy read and quite different from lots of other police procedurals. I warmed to Van Veeteren as a character - his moroseness, his oddness, his way of doing things, and the way he interacted with his team.

However . . . my main complaint is that I don’t like books where significant pieces of information are kept from the reader, and then at the end all is revealed and tied up via a conversation between characters (or such like). Perhaps it’s because it’s the first in the series? Perhaps he avoids that in later books? Will I ever find out?


Now reserved as a wishlist tag, but waiting for its travel companion to be ready for the journey.

Finally ready to set off - sorry about the delay.

Arrived today. Thank you.