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FROM BRUGES WITH LOVE
by Pieter Aspe and Brian Doyle, trans.
Open Road, July 2015
336 pages
$15.99
ISBN: 1497678897


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Bruges, in the Flemish sector of Belgium. An old farmhouse is being restored. A little girl playing in the yard. She finds a bone. A human bone. A whole skeleton is discovered buried there. It has been there for years. Inspector Pieter Van In is called in to investigate what is soon labeled a murder. He hopes for a rapid solution so he and his wife, the deputy police prosecutor, can benefit from a last vacation before the birth of their first child. However, the situation is complicated and the deeper he and his team investigate, the more complex it appears. They move from the farmhouse to an apparently charitable foundation with a peculiar financial set-up and questionable activities. They are also forced to deal with low-level thugs, highly "respectable" businessmen as well as a member of the government, all of which complicates their work.

The plot is complex and the reader is kept interested up until the sexually sordid end. Van In is an interesting main character, very human with great qualities and lapses. He loves his beer, one brand in particular, and his smoking which becomes tediously repetitive at times. His lack of acknowledgment of hierarchy and his caustic humor is a plus in this investigation along with his unconventional methods. He is comfortable with his wife's high level job, and perfectly at ease working with a gay sergeant. He is also normal enough to express doubts about becoming a father, making him quite self-aware and unafraid to face his shortcomings. One of them was a problem with me and concerned his failure to monitor a young female rookie sent to do undercover work which led to dire consequences which he tended to maker light of. But the book was originally written in 1997 and we must allow for a change in sensibilities since then.

Apart from naming the various sections of Bruges, I didn't really feel I was in Belgium but I knew without a doubt that I had left America for continental Europe.

The series is popular and boasts thirty-four books to date. I can well understand its longevity since this book drew me in enough to send me back to start the series from the beginning – the first three books have been translated into English and hopefully more will come. I am curious to see how the characters evolve and what other complex plots Aspe has cooked up over the years.

§ Nicole Leclerc is a native Montrealer, avid reader, long time reviewer and moderator of the 4MA online discussion group.

Reviewed by Nicole Leclerc, July 2015

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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