Grijpstra & De Gier
My second book of the year is the tenth entry in Janwillem van de Wetering's Amsterdam Cops series, also known as the Grijpstra & De Gier mysteries. It's entitled The Rattle-Rat, and was my relaxation reading at the Writing Popular Fiction residency.
The series was published from 1975 to 1999, and follows the members of the Amsterdam Murder Squad (or Brigade) in contemporary time. There's a literary tone and a philosophical theme to all of them, the author being a Zen practitioner, and the characters being influenced by that aesthetic as well. (Two of them had Asian experience.) There's a lot of snide comment on society, dropped into the dialog.
This novel turns on the murder of a Frisian in Amsterdam, and the investigation mostly happens in Frisia. The degree to which the Frisians think of themselves as being another country (two of the series detectives are Frisians) is played with. A humorous side note is provided by the complicated authorities and jurisdictions of the various police and military arms of the Netherlands in the area. We are constantly finding out that a vehicle is being used by X police type, but is run by Y department, though the vehicle is owned by the Army and manned by the Navy.
I love the series characters, and the setting in a land I've never been in (though I've flown over it), and the oddly wandering dialog. There's a David Mamet feel to the thing; and conversations veer wildly, trip over non-sequiturs, generate witty asides. ["Are there local festivities?" a character asks when another officer enters the room in an unfortunate assembly of hastily borrowed clothes. "Are we required to dress up in Frisian garb?"] I found some of these conversations misfiring in this book. Not badly enough to ruin the effect, but I did get slightly lost a couple of times.
The title comes from a pet rat, who is an important character in the book. He does not squeak, however. He rattles.
CBIP: Campus Sexpot, David Carkeet
Life of the Empress Josephine, anonymous (Cecil B. Hartley?)
The Inheritance of Loss, Kiran Desai
The Year's Best Science Fiction, Twenty-ninth Annual Collection, Gardner Dozois, ed.
The Monitor Boys, John V. Quarstein