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DEATH GOES DUTCH
by Albert A. Bell Jr.
Ingalls Publishing, December 2005
304 pages
$13.95
ISBN: 1932158650


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

It's not easy being a Korean-American woman in that bastion of Dutch Reform culture known to many of us as Grand Rapids, Michigan. Sarah DeGraaf is a social worker, specializing in finding biological parents for adopted children, a job which she finds satisfying and frustrating because she will never have that closure for herself.

Sarah's current case, that of Josh Adams, starts out smoothly. It doesn't take her long to track down Josh's birth mother, Margaret Dykstra. Unfortunately, Margaret is dead. But her mother Ella is still alive and well, as is her brother Edmund Dykstra. There are other relatives, but surprisingly few, considering how fecund families in Grand Rapids can be.

Ella couldn't be happier that Josh has found her. Edmund and the rest of the family couldn't be more upset. Edmund tries to buy off Sarah. He gets restraining orders issued for Josh and for Sarah. This makes Sarah's life complicated, as the Dykstras own quite a bit of property, including the building in which she works.

Josh isn't doing anything to help. He is not the most forthcoming of individuals. Every time Sarah learns something about him from anyone else, it makes Josh look like a scheming con man. And there is a reason to be suspicious: Margaret established a very large trust fund for her son, which Josh stands to inherit in six months if he is still alive and is truly her son. That's a lot of motive for a con man.

There is a murder in this story, although it really isn't the focus of the novel until about the last third. Most of the book deals with the validity of Josh's claim, and the character of Margaret. The romantic subplot involves Sarah and the (what a surprise) local policeman, Cal.

Bell writes with great expertise and knowledge about the Grand Rapids environs; having lived there myself for almost 25 years, I can tell you that he knows whereof he speaks. Sarah is visibly different from the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Dutch; Cal's partner is a lesbian in a strongly heterosexual and male milieu. Bell conveys those differences very capably. There are depths to all his characters that don't jump out all at once, but are revealed gradually as the reader gets to know these individuals.

Bell's other mysteries are non-series. It would be nice if DEATH GOES DUTCH were the first in a series; there's lots of potential, given Sarah's occupation. DEATH GOES DUTCH is a well-researched mystery, with characters likely to appeal to readers of traditional mysteries. If historical mysteries are of interest, Bell's other books should fill the bill. I recommend him.

Reviewed by P. J. Coldren, April 2006

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