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Henri Castang #9
Cold Iron
Her background was impeccably aristocratic, but like many rich, neglected wives, Madame Lecat pursued a variety of diversions, from cocaine to young men. Now the Madame is dead, and Henri Castang is about to reveal some startling things about how the rich live and die.
- GenresFiction
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
4 people are currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
Nicolas Freeling
87 books59 followersNicolas Freeling born Nicolas Davidson, (March 3, 1927 - July 20, 2003) was a British crime novelist, best known as the author of the Van der Valk series of detective novels which were adapted for transmission on the British ITV network by Thames Television during the 1970s.
Freeling was born in London, but travelled widely, and ended his life at his long-standing home at Grandfontaine to the west of Strasbourg. He had followed a variety of occupations, including the armed services and the catering profession. He began writing during a three-week prison sentence, after being convicted of stealing some food.[citation needed]
Freeling's The King of the Rainy Country received a 1967 Edgar Award, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Best Novel. He also won the Gold Dagger of the Crime Writers' Association, and France's Grand Prix de Littérature Policière.
From Wikipedia
Series:
* Van Der Valk
* Henri Castang
Freeling was born in London, but travelled widely, and ended his life at his long-standing home at Grandfontaine to the west of Strasbourg. He had followed a variety of occupations, including the armed services and the catering profession. He began writing during a three-week prison sentence, after being convicted of stealing some food.[citation needed]
Freeling's The King of the Rainy Country received a 1967 Edgar Award, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Best Novel. He also won the Gold Dagger of the Crime Writers' Association, and France's Grand Prix de Littérature Policière.
From Wikipedia
Series:
* Van Der Valk
* Henri Castang
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 30, 2017
Freeling demands much from his readers with his sharp, abbreviated and post-modernistic lexicon-twisting style, but Castang, his provincial French detective demands even more, keeping up with his thoughts, as well as some understanding in dealing with his judgements and biases. Running beneath the text is a strong current of animosity and intolerance; I've always suspected the French Revolution was an utter failure and the Reign of Terror nothing more than a license to murder, and Freeling's novel makes me think I might be right. This is a crime novel. How could it not be with the wife of a millionaire murdered and police inspectors and judges scurrying everywhere? But it's also a caste novel, with the police toadying before wealth and rank, a judge of instruction (part of the French legal system) bitter about her lowly origins and carrying a shoulder-chip bigger than the Eiffel Tower, and a bevy of borderline incompetent inspectors under Castang who investigate the murder despite feelings that she probably deserved to die anyway because she was rich. And then there is a strong dose of the usual Gallic inferiority complex towards the English (and the world) that manifests itself as studied cosmopolitanism and sophistication. Still, it's a well-written book, nicely plotted, with complex characters who keep the action moving forward. Perhaps not a book for crime fiction fans uncomfortable with non-traditional storytelling techniques, but fine for all other readers.
November 20, 2024
One of Freeling's best. A very nice mystery. And the typically dense and allusive prose is in full swing, with even the descriptive passages done at a high level. There's also a fair bit of social commentary, based in French history and culture, and not all of it misplaced.
But (and it comes with the "buts" that are distressingly usual in a Freeling novel: The ability of every character to speak in a sophisticated tone, complete with frequent references to art and literature, is present again here, although perhaps less intrusively than usual. The all too common sexual episodes and comments are also present here, and don't stop. Why would Freeling have his detective, Henri Castang, make a horrible comment about incest, and his wife Vera shrug it off as "police humour?" Why would Vera, resolved to take up painting again, recruit a local teenager to serve as a nude model, with attendant occasionally embarrassing complications — this whole business being irrelevant to the plot? Why would Castang go on to make provocative, sexually laced comments to other women? Why does a normal action scene take a bizarre detour into temporary nakedness? Impressed reviewers at the time of the book's publication didn't mention these odd excursions; nor do Goodreads reviewers mention them and I don't know that I paid much attention on first reading the book about 30 years ago. The apparently unnecessary level of prurience does raise questions. Was Freeling simply trying to juice up the tale for a popular readership? Was he trying to implicate readers as being closet voyeurs, the way that Alfred Hitchcock did at times (and the book makes clear that Freeling, via Castang, was a Hitchcock fan)? Was Freeling merely prone to bouts of creepiness? Whatever the reason, those passages are jarring. The 4 stars are prompted by the writing and the well plotted mystery, but the odd proclivities could lead to 2 or 3 stars.
But (and it comes with the "buts" that are distressingly usual in a Freeling novel: The ability of every character to speak in a sophisticated tone, complete with frequent references to art and literature, is present again here, although perhaps less intrusively than usual. The all too common sexual episodes and comments are also present here, and don't stop. Why would Freeling have his detective, Henri Castang, make a horrible comment about incest, and his wife Vera shrug it off as "police humour?" Why would Vera, resolved to take up painting again, recruit a local teenager to serve as a nude model, with attendant occasionally embarrassing complications — this whole business being irrelevant to the plot? Why would Castang go on to make provocative, sexually laced comments to other women? Why does a normal action scene take a bizarre detour into temporary nakedness? Impressed reviewers at the time of the book's publication didn't mention these odd excursions; nor do Goodreads reviewers mention them and I don't know that I paid much attention on first reading the book about 30 years ago. The apparently unnecessary level of prurience does raise questions. Was Freeling simply trying to juice up the tale for a popular readership? Was he trying to implicate readers as being closet voyeurs, the way that Alfred Hitchcock did at times (and the book makes clear that Freeling, via Castang, was a Hitchcock fan)? Was Freeling merely prone to bouts of creepiness? Whatever the reason, those passages are jarring. The 4 stars are prompted by the writing and the well plotted mystery, but the odd proclivities could lead to 2 or 3 stars.
September 5, 2025
I was trying to figure out whether to keep reading this. Or maybe keep not reading is more accurate. After 3 days, I am on page 10. That pretty well shows how uninteresting I found this book.
I'm sure it's a work of genius, especially if you want to read about the political and societal issues of provincial French policing in the 1980s. And especially if you like prose that is dense and a chore to read. That really old school style of writing that should have died out after Hemingway and Steinbeck showed that writing can be both great and accessible.
I also have Castang's City on our shelf, which has been on there for decades I think. At I least I won't have to even start that one. Two books off the shelf in 3 days and 10 pages. I suppose that's efficiency in reading.
Merged review:
If a reader doesn't want to finish a book, is it the fault of the reader or the writer?
This book was sitting around separate from our books. I found it recently when straightening up something that should have straightened up a year, if not years, before. This book is "A Henri Castang Mystery". I recalled a book Castang's City, which was neither on our shelf nor on Goodreads as one of my read books. A minor mystery.
I must have bailed on Castang's City and donated it for someone else to not read. After about 4 pages, I've bailed on Cold Iron too.
The writing is dense, repetitive, and paragraphs are often way too long. This is what I believe was considered good writing back in the day. I guess people thought they were smart if they could get through stuff like this. Steinbeck, Twain, O'Connor, and Hemingway all showed that writing didn't have to be a slog to get through to be great. Freeling is a hard slog.
I'm sure it's a work of genius, especially if you want to read about the political and societal issues of provincial French policing in the 1980s. And especially if you like prose that is dense and a chore to read. That really old school style of writing that should have died out after Hemingway and Steinbeck showed that writing can be both great and accessible.
I also have Castang's City on our shelf, which has been on there for decades I think. At I least I won't have to even start that one. Two books off the shelf in 3 days and 10 pages. I suppose that's efficiency in reading.
Merged review:
If a reader doesn't want to finish a book, is it the fault of the reader or the writer?
This book was sitting around separate from our books. I found it recently when straightening up something that should have straightened up a year, if not years, before. This book is "A Henri Castang Mystery". I recalled a book Castang's City, which was neither on our shelf nor on Goodreads as one of my read books. A minor mystery.
I must have bailed on Castang's City and donated it for someone else to not read. After about 4 pages, I've bailed on Cold Iron too.
The writing is dense, repetitive, and paragraphs are often way too long. This is what I believe was considered good writing back in the day. I guess people thought they were smart if they could get through stuff like this. Steinbeck, Twain, O'Connor, and Hemingway all showed that writing didn't have to be a slog to get through to be great. Freeling is a hard slog.
July 27, 2020
Nicolas Freeling wrote books, many of which were crime novels. He was born in Britain but lived much of his life in Strasbourg, France, and his books capture the cosmopolitan, European societies. He had two series characters: Piet Van der Valk, a Dutch police detective and bureaucrat; and Henri Castang, a French detective. Freeling also wrote some non-detective novels, which I mostly didn't like very much. This book is a Castang mystery.
The Van der Valk and Castang novels are wonderful. They're witty and overflowing with fascinating characters. Besides the detectives themselves, their wives, Arlette (Van der Valk) and Vera (Castang) and Castang's boss, Adrien Richard are fully developed, but the minor characters are great, too.
The books require some concentration For one thing, almost every character seems to have gone to a better school than I did. The references to literature, the arts, music, and history flow generously. Also, Freeling has a habit of not telling you who is speaking, which throws me off. But if I accept that sometimes, I will be disoriented or miss something, I get a lot out of reading and re-reading his books.
I would say that if you're new to Freeling, the Van der Valk books are a little more accessible.
The Van der Valk and Castang novels are wonderful. They're witty and overflowing with fascinating characters. Besides the detectives themselves, their wives, Arlette (Van der Valk) and Vera (Castang) and Castang's boss, Adrien Richard are fully developed, but the minor characters are great, too.
The books require some concentration For one thing, almost every character seems to have gone to a better school than I did. The references to literature, the arts, music, and history flow generously. Also, Freeling has a habit of not telling you who is speaking, which throws me off. But if I accept that sometimes, I will be disoriented or miss something, I get a lot out of reading and re-reading his books.
I would say that if you're new to Freeling, the Van der Valk books are a little more accessible.
July 19, 2025
I Love the “free style” kind of writing (sometimes having to read a paragraph two or three times!) that Freeling has down to an exact science. His characters are wonderfully deep and ones you do not want to let go. I am always sorry to be at the end of a Henri Castang investigation but am comforted in knowing there are more in the repertoire of master Freeling’s novels to enjoy. I only wish Van der Valk novels were available in kindle editions.
November 13, 2022
Read quite a few of the author’s books. He is described as a cerebral mystery writer. If you’re looking for a lot of bang bang shoot them up and car chases, these are not your books. However, this one was boring as hell and I could not finish it. I tried and tried. I started skimming and even that couldn’t cut it. Nope. Pass.
September 13, 2023
I do love Freeling’s books! Intelligent, well-written, occasionally amusing and damn good mysteries too. This was my first foray into his other series and I must say I will be reading the others. Highly recommended.
June 30, 2015
Imagine a climactic gun battle scene in a movie - think "High Noon", "Reservoir Dogs" or "The Matrix" (electromagnetic pulse weapons are ok). Several people with guns in their hands. Life or death - the tension mounts. The spectators hold their breath. And suddenly someone orders: "Take off your pants! Undress!" Imagine the intrepid gunmen and gunwomen standing there bare-bottomed: Marshal Kane, or Mr. White, or Neo with their naked behinds. The one and only Nicolas Freeling wrote such a scene in "Cold Iron", the ninth novel in the Castang series.
Henri Castang is promoted to a Principal Commissaire in a smallish town in northeastern France. Monsieur Lecat, the owner of a nationally-known wine company, calls Castang to report discovering the dead body of his wife. As soon as Castang begins the investigation, he quickly finds himself between quite a few rocks and a hard place: M. Lecat has powerful, highly-placed friends, the deceased's sister is married to a retired Army General with connections at the top levels of the military, and the combative judge of instruction, Castang's legal superior, is known to have ruffled some VIPs' feathers in the past. Castang is supposed to tread lightly and exercise "prudence and discretion".
For a Freeling novel the plot is quite interesting and involved, but again this is not why one loves the author. The incomparable writing and razor sharp social observations are what is most valuable. Here's a funny and typical 'Freeling passage': "He didn't even get home for lunch and sat staring into vacancy biting on a hamburger revoltingly warm and squdgy and bland, not even noticing it, this assemblage of American molecules so carefully designed to be the very perfection of tastelessness. How could you possibly use the word design? Di-seg-no; three Italian syllables like rifle shots, something as tough and alive as the town of Florence, meaning a drawing by Giotto and strictly inapplicable to plastic bottles." Alas, in the 30 years since the book has been published, the European reverence of quality has suffered further setbacks.
And consider this pearl of cynical wisdom: "The rich are after power and they rot quicker. They rot on the way up, and being rich they spread rot quicker around them." An acute diagnosis. This is not to say that I like everything in this book. For once I am unable to relate to Mr. Freeling's choice of title. "Cold iron is the master of us all", which comes from Rudyard Kipling's "Rewards and Fairies". Maybe I just do not understand the connection? Or maybe I do not like how the author over-explains the title in the middle of the book?
Three and a quarter stars.
Henri Castang is promoted to a Principal Commissaire in a smallish town in northeastern France. Monsieur Lecat, the owner of a nationally-known wine company, calls Castang to report discovering the dead body of his wife. As soon as Castang begins the investigation, he quickly finds himself between quite a few rocks and a hard place: M. Lecat has powerful, highly-placed friends, the deceased's sister is married to a retired Army General with connections at the top levels of the military, and the combative judge of instruction, Castang's legal superior, is known to have ruffled some VIPs' feathers in the past. Castang is supposed to tread lightly and exercise "prudence and discretion".
For a Freeling novel the plot is quite interesting and involved, but again this is not why one loves the author. The incomparable writing and razor sharp social observations are what is most valuable. Here's a funny and typical 'Freeling passage': "He didn't even get home for lunch and sat staring into vacancy biting on a hamburger revoltingly warm and squdgy and bland, not even noticing it, this assemblage of American molecules so carefully designed to be the very perfection of tastelessness. How could you possibly use the word design? Di-seg-no; three Italian syllables like rifle shots, something as tough and alive as the town of Florence, meaning a drawing by Giotto and strictly inapplicable to plastic bottles." Alas, in the 30 years since the book has been published, the European reverence of quality has suffered further setbacks.
And consider this pearl of cynical wisdom: "The rich are after power and they rot quicker. They rot on the way up, and being rich they spread rot quicker around them." An acute diagnosis. This is not to say that I like everything in this book. For once I am unable to relate to Mr. Freeling's choice of title. "Cold iron is the master of us all", which comes from Rudyard Kipling's "Rewards and Fairies". Maybe I just do not understand the connection? Or maybe I do not like how the author over-explains the title in the middle of the book?
Three and a quarter stars.
February 17, 2018
I was trying to figure out whether to keep reading this. Or maybe keep not reading is more accurate. After 3 days, I am on page 10. That pretty well shows how uninteresting I found this book.
I'm sure it's a work of genius, especially if you want to read about the political and societal issues of provincial French policing in the 1980s. And especially if you like prose that is dense and a chore to read. That really old school style of writing that should have died out after Hemingway and Steinbeck showed that writing can be both great and accessible.
I also have Castang's City on our shelf, which has been on there for decades I think. At I least I won't have to even start that one. Two books off the shelf in 3 days and 10 pages. I suppose that's efficiency in reading.
Merged review:
If a reader doesn't want to finish a book, is it the fault of the reader or the writer?
This book was sitting around separate from our books. I found it recently when straightening up something that should have straightened up a year, if not years, before. This book is "A Henri Castang Mystery". I recalled a book Castang's City, which was neither on our shelf nor on Goodreads as one of my read books. A minor mystery.
I must have bailed on Castang's City and donated it for someone else to not read. After about 4 pages, I've bailed on Cold Iron too.
The writing is dense, repetitive, and paragraphs are often way too long. This is what I believe was considered good writing back in the day. I guess people thought they were smart if they could get through stuff like this. Steinbeck, Twain, O'Connor, and Hemingway all showed that writing didn't have to be a slog to get through to be great. Freeling is a hard slog.
I'm sure it's a work of genius, especially if you want to read about the political and societal issues of provincial French policing in the 1980s. And especially if you like prose that is dense and a chore to read. That really old school style of writing that should have died out after Hemingway and Steinbeck showed that writing can be both great and accessible.
I also have Castang's City on our shelf, which has been on there for decades I think. At I least I won't have to even start that one. Two books off the shelf in 3 days and 10 pages. I suppose that's efficiency in reading.
Merged review:
If a reader doesn't want to finish a book, is it the fault of the reader or the writer?
This book was sitting around separate from our books. I found it recently when straightening up something that should have straightened up a year, if not years, before. This book is "A Henri Castang Mystery". I recalled a book Castang's City, which was neither on our shelf nor on Goodreads as one of my read books. A minor mystery.
I must have bailed on Castang's City and donated it for someone else to not read. After about 4 pages, I've bailed on Cold Iron too.
The writing is dense, repetitive, and paragraphs are often way too long. This is what I believe was considered good writing back in the day. I guess people thought they were smart if they could get through stuff like this. Steinbeck, Twain, O'Connor, and Hemingway all showed that writing didn't have to be a slog to get through to be great. Freeling is a hard slog.
April 13, 2016
I prefer Nicolas Freeling’s Henri Castang novels to his Van der Valke novels. Castang’s domestic situation is more dense and his location in a provincial French city, rather than in Amsterdam, realises the potential of life away from the centre – in Castang’s case the centre of police-life in Paris. In “Cold Iron”, Castang has moved from a significant provincial city to a smaller northern city, more a town, where he is confronted by regional hierarchies and its history, particularly that in two World Wars.
Freeling’s style is curious and unusual for a genre novel: there is the occasional absence of pronouns and short, even truncated sentences, but, perhaps more unusual, is the realisation that something has happened without being actually described.
Freeling’s style is curious and unusual for a genre novel: there is the occasional absence of pronouns and short, even truncated sentences, but, perhaps more unusual, is the realisation that something has happened without being actually described.
January 30, 2024
I really enjoy this series.
Ok, so I don’t ‘get’ half of the illusions I suspect are in this man’s writing, but I still enjoy his writing style. He does use words in this French mystery which I think of as very British…but I realized the alternative is USA translations. Ok I get that too now. Part of my problem is I’m not as well educated as this man and many Brit’s are. (I hope that Brits is not pejorative). But I read all night. Finished at 7 am. So ‘not put downable’ works here for sure.
Ok, so I don’t ‘get’ half of the illusions I suspect are in this man’s writing, but I still enjoy his writing style. He does use words in this French mystery which I think of as very British…but I realized the alternative is USA translations. Ok I get that too now. Part of my problem is I’m not as well educated as this man and many Brit’s are. (I hope that Brits is not pejorative). But I read all night. Finished at 7 am. So ‘not put downable’ works here for sure.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews