September 2, 2013
What brainy, bodacious Bruges deputy prosecutor Hannelore Martens finds irresistible about irascible, alcoholic, and insolvent Asst. Commissioner Pieter Van In, the hero of Aspe’s long-running Belgian series, remains a mystery by the end of this convoluted second installment to be translated into English (after The Square of Revenge). Despite his pressing personal problems—including the bank’s threat to foreclose on his house—Van In suddenly faces some even more urgent police work: finding out who murdered a prominent German travel executive and who bombed the statue of beloved Flemish poet Guido Gezelle. Both are high-priority cases in the tourist-dependent medieval municipality. Between hangovers, mood swings, and other distractions, Van In starts to connect the dots of a vast conspiracy. Though the novel becomes increasingly engaging as the plot coalesces, it’s possible that Van In, like the whiskey-cola concoction he and many of the other characters are so fond of, may be an acquired taste.