...those "Amsterdam cop" novels are really something.

"God is not your uncle. He is not a nice man."



http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/16/books/16wetering.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

July 16, 2008
Janwillem van de Wetering, Crime Fiction Writer, Dies at 77
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SURRY, Me. (AP) — Janwillem van de Wetering, a Dutch-born author who wrote a popular detective series set in his native country, died on July 4 in Ellsworth, Me. He was 77.

The cause was complications of cancer, said Nikki Smith, his literary agent.

Born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Mr. Van de Wetering moved to Maine in 1975 and pursued interests in Zen Buddhism, motorcycles and jazz, among other things.

He lived in a number of countries, including Japan, where he also joined a Zen monastery, which he wrote about in his first book, “The Empty Mirror: Experiences in a Japanese Zen Monastery.”

Later Mr. Van de Wetering created the Grijpstra and de Gier series of detective novels set in Amsterdam, which drew from his experience as a police officer.

In 1984 he was awarded the international Grand Prix de Littérature Policière, a French prize for crime fiction, for his book “The Maine Massacre,” a Grijpstra and de Gier mystery set in Maine. He also wrote three children’s books set in Surry, Me., that feature a porcupine named Hugh Pine.

Mr. Van de Wetering settled in Maine after moving there to join a Zen community, which soon collapsed. He later sailed up and down the coast in an old lobster boat, Ms. Smith said.

Mr. Van de Wetering is survived by his wife, Juanita; his daughter, Thera; and a granddaughter.

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Grijpstra and de Gier novels

Outsider in Amsterdam, 1975
Tumbleweed, 1976
The Corpse on the Dike, 1976
Death of a Hawker, 1977
The Japanese Corpse, 1977
The Blond Baboon, 1978
The Maine Massacre, 1979
The Mind-Murders, 1981
The Streetbird, 1983
The Rattle-Rat, 1985
Hard Rain, 1986
Just A Corpse at Twilight, 1994
The Hollow-Eyed Angel, 1996
The Perfidious Parrot, 1997
The Amsterdam Cops: Collected Stories, 1999 (anthology)
replaces the anthology The Sergeant's Cat and Other Stories