DeKok and the Geese of Death

Rating:
Summary: Short but great mystery
Review: Inspector DeKok of the Amsterdam Municipal Police is trying to get a confession out of Igor Stablinsky for the murder of rich and elderly Samuel Lion. The interrogation goes nowhere when a woman calls about some geese. When DeKok turns his back on Igor, the criminal tries to kill him with a tire iron. He fails and is put back in jail while DeKok and his partner Vledder visit Happy House Estate where the matriarch Isolde Bildijk demands the police arrest her servant. He bought strychnine and Isolde believes he is going to kill her geese.

They leave without arresting the man but soon return when all the geese die. Isolde tells them she fears her life is in danger and asks her family to stay and protect her. While DeKok is busy with geese Igor breaks out of jail and Isolde is one of the people they think he intends to kill. Three murders occur at Happy House, the servant and two of Isolde's nephews with Igor seen at the mansion. DeKok is under increasing pressure from his supervisors to find the killer before someone else dies.

This is a short but fantastic who-done-it with many viable suspects though obviously Igor leads the list and there are plenty of red herrings to keep readers interested in the story. DeKok is getting ready to retire but remains at least as good a police officer as he was in his younger days. The audience gets an armchair's view of Holland, particularly Amsterdam, where legalized drugs and prostitution differ from the rest of Europe and the United States. Baantjer is an excellent writer and this reviewer will look forward to his next police procedural.

Harriet Klausner