The Seacoast of Bohemia - Hardcover

Freeling, Nicolas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 089296555X ISBN 13: 9780892965557

Publisher: Mysterious Pr, 1995

Synopsis

Checking on an apparent runaway case, Brussels-based Inspector Henri Castang learns the missing boy's identity and his connection to a former SS officer, prompting Castang to launch a full-scale kidnapping investigation.

About this title

About the Author:

Born in London in 1927, Nicolas Freeling is the author of over thirty titles, many of which are part of the crime genre. His education was broad and he attended a series of schools in England, Ireland and France. He served in the Royal Air Force, and from 1950 worked at various jobs in kitchens, hotels and restaurants throughout Europe. It was this intimate knowledge of the continent that influenced the style and settings of his subsequent books. The first of these was published in 1961. He is best known for the creation of Inspector Piet Van der Valk, an irascible detective engaged in ordinary crime, political intrigue and international affairs. Freeling is married, has four sons and one daughter and currently resides in France.

From Publishers Weekly:

In his latest case, Brussels' Henri Castang (Love in Amsterdam et al.), once a policeman but now an "Advisory Expert on criminology" in the vast bureaucracy of the European Community, agrees to investigate the disappearance of Anita and Arnold Rogier's son, Maurice, kidnapped four years ago, when he was eight years old. Mme. Rogier insists she has just received a call from her son, but few believe her. Castang's search leads him and his wife, Vera, born in Czechoslovakia, first to Mme. Rogier's father, an SS officer during WWII, and then to Bohemia, in the Czech Republic, where the past catches up with the present. In the end, the motivation for the kidnapping is unclear, and a leap from that crime to another is too great. Although Freeling touches on some of the ironies of post-Cold War Europe, this tale, shifting point of view between past and present, lacks a clear focus. The result is that Castang's wry, dark musings, even against the backdrop of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale (as indicated in the title), spread a murky fog over events rather than cast their usual revealing sidelight.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Mysterious Pr
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 089296555X
• ISBN 13: 9780892965557
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 213