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Van der Valk #10
A Long Silence
The famous detective Piet Van der Valk has been kicked upstairs to a quiet desk job to work out his days until retirement. But he is still the maverick of the Amsterdam police force and too restless for paper work alone. A seemingly minor incident -- a young man concerned about a gold antique watch -- sets him off on a personal investigation that also involves his engaging French wife, Arlette. It is she who embarks on a quest that leads through the rarified world of art and antique dealers to a squalid sex shop -- "The Golden Apples of the Hesperides" -- as she scours Amsterdam for a nameless, faceless killer.
223 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
8 people are currently reading
88 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
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 19, 2015
"His wife's smile, and the smell of mimosa vividly pictured and for one instant recaptured, would be the last thing in his life. That, and the moisture on his loden coat, and the dead leaves, and a wet leather glove: the smells of Holland."
Nicolas Freeling's "A Long Silence" (also published as "Auprės de ma Blonde") is the most extraordinary crime novel I have ever read. I do not really mean the best one - some weaker spots can be found - but I challenge anybody to find a more unusual mystery. Let's see:
This is the ninth novel in the series featuring Piet Van der Valk, first an inspector, finally a Principal Commissary of the Dutch police. Well, there is no tenth book in the series as he is killed while conducting a private investigation. In the remainder of the novel, it is Arlette, Van der Valk's widow, who is the principal character, and who completes the investigation. Sherlock Holmes also dies in one of Conan Doyle's stories, but he gets resurrected later. Nicolas Freeling is cooler than that; he knows that death is irreversible. I love Van der Valk, but I totally admire Mr. Freeling's courage for doing away with the protagonist of his series, and I just wish authors of other series would do the same.
When Van der Valk dies, Mr. Freeling, the author of the novel himself, appears in the novel. The author's emergence is seamlessly woven into the story. There is not a single false note in this meta-fiction experiment.
Finally, and most importantly (at least to me), the first 80+ pages of the novel are exceptionally well written. I do not mean "well written for a crime novel". J.M. Coetzee, James Joyce, or any other great author could not write better than that. It is high-class literature, simply breathtaking. Nothing is said to the end, things are just hinted at, exactly as in real life, where we just think we understand what is going on. Also, Larry Saint is one of the most vividly drawn characters in world literature.
The remainder of the novel is perceptibly weaker - the whole concept of a group of amateurs planning revenge is rather ridiculous. There are too many dialogues, whereas Mr. Freeling is an absolute master of narrative prose. I also find the ending disappointing. Still, the weaknesses of the latter part only accentuate the absolute greatness of the first third of the novel.
Four and a half stars.
Nicolas Freeling's "A Long Silence" (also published as "Auprės de ma Blonde") is the most extraordinary crime novel I have ever read. I do not really mean the best one - some weaker spots can be found - but I challenge anybody to find a more unusual mystery. Let's see:
This is the ninth novel in the series featuring Piet Van der Valk, first an inspector, finally a Principal Commissary of the Dutch police. Well, there is no tenth book in the series as he is killed while conducting a private investigation. In the remainder of the novel, it is Arlette, Van der Valk's widow, who is the principal character, and who completes the investigation. Sherlock Holmes also dies in one of Conan Doyle's stories, but he gets resurrected later. Nicolas Freeling is cooler than that; he knows that death is irreversible. I love Van der Valk, but I totally admire Mr. Freeling's courage for doing away with the protagonist of his series, and I just wish authors of other series would do the same.
When Van der Valk dies, Mr. Freeling, the author of the novel himself, appears in the novel. The author's emergence is seamlessly woven into the story. There is not a single false note in this meta-fiction experiment.
Finally, and most importantly (at least to me), the first 80+ pages of the novel are exceptionally well written. I do not mean "well written for a crime novel". J.M. Coetzee, James Joyce, or any other great author could not write better than that. It is high-class literature, simply breathtaking. Nothing is said to the end, things are just hinted at, exactly as in real life, where we just think we understand what is going on. Also, Larry Saint is one of the most vividly drawn characters in world literature.
The remainder of the novel is perceptibly weaker - the whole concept of a group of amateurs planning revenge is rather ridiculous. There are too many dialogues, whereas Mr. Freeling is an absolute master of narrative prose. I also find the ending disappointing. Still, the weaknesses of the latter part only accentuate the absolute greatness of the first third of the novel.
Four and a half stars.
February 18, 2011
A very smart and interesting variation on the crime novel, it takes some very unexpected directions. Not sure why it isn't more widely read, because it's very good, except that perhaps readers of literary fiction look down on crime fiction so never open something like this and readers of crime fiction resent departures from the norm in their favourite genre, so it falls between two stools. But it's really very good and worth reading, with some fun postmodern elements that are handled very well.
July 28, 2020
So I saw a couple of episodes of Van der Valk on TV and thought it seemed worth a read. I had seen several seasons of Midsummer Murders before I thought to search out Caroline Graham. I found the books really rewarding, funny and more biting than the TV series. I never realized, for example, that DS Troy was a racist, misogynist, chauvinist, not before reading Ms Graham.
In any case I found A Long Silence at the local library and so gave it a try. Imagine my surprise!
If you have not read any of the Van der Valk mysteries this is not the place to start. Slightly less than half way through the book the mundane tale of how a semi-retired senior policeman decides to play private investigator suddenly takes a profound turn.
One of the things I really disliked was that although this is set in Holland and everybody, except Van der Valk's wife Arlette, are Dutch. There is very little of the language interspersed in the text. What we do get is French! Probably this is due to the mistaken belief that educated people speak - or at least read - French. This is no longer true. There are many languages in the world. So why an Englishman writing about Dutchmen should toss in a few phrases of French is simply silly.
"'He's most anxious to have your opinion on his abortion law.'
'Oh bonne mére,' moaned Van der Valk. Professor Sammels was the most tenacious talker he knew..." (p. 80) The Dutch phrase is goede moeder. ???
"Arlette was stacking things in the dishwasher. They had never before had a dishwasher - never before had she had a flat so easy to keep and to clean. She loathed it as much as he did. There was every comfort and no luxury, every sensible idea and nothing of any interest. No character, charm, breadth or generosity. No sense of proportion and quite unfurnishable. Everything here was predigested; there was one place you could hang your hat and one position for your bed. No wonder, said Van der Valk, that once on the street or in a car people who live in these places become utterly demented." (p. 93) This describes perfectly the apartment in which I live. It was built in the 1960's and was very modern and has been modernized. No charm, no character - except in the furniture or what we hang on the walls. "Demented" may be hyperbole, but "depressed", surely.
On a darker note: "...when he came back he would find the place livable for once, with a smell of ironing, clothes in piles, and a wife in a housecoat, all nicely stuffy and reactionary: a wife-slave, and happy about it." (p. 93 still)
The author on his characters: "Arlette was a humble woman. She saw herself as a snobbish, narrow, rigid, French provincial bourgeois. Piet [Van der Valk], born and bred in Amsterdam, used to describe himself as a peasant. This humility gave them both an unusual breadth, stability, and balance..." (p. 131)
This is not a book with which to begin the series; nor is it really satisfactory as a crime-story. But the ending is not without interest and I suspect that those who have read others in the series will be pleased to find several old characters suddenly cast in new roles.
In any case I found A Long Silence at the local library and so gave it a try. Imagine my surprise!
If you have not read any of the Van der Valk mysteries this is not the place to start. Slightly less than half way through the book the mundane tale of how a semi-retired senior policeman decides to play private investigator suddenly takes a profound turn.
One of the things I really disliked was that although this is set in Holland and everybody, except Van der Valk's wife Arlette, are Dutch. There is very little of the language interspersed in the text. What we do get is French! Probably this is due to the mistaken belief that educated people speak - or at least read - French. This is no longer true. There are many languages in the world. So why an Englishman writing about Dutchmen should toss in a few phrases of French is simply silly.
"'He's most anxious to have your opinion on his abortion law.'
'Oh bonne mére,' moaned Van der Valk. Professor Sammels was the most tenacious talker he knew..." (p. 80) The Dutch phrase is goede moeder. ???
"Arlette was stacking things in the dishwasher. They had never before had a dishwasher - never before had she had a flat so easy to keep and to clean. She loathed it as much as he did. There was every comfort and no luxury, every sensible idea and nothing of any interest. No character, charm, breadth or generosity. No sense of proportion and quite unfurnishable. Everything here was predigested; there was one place you could hang your hat and one position for your bed. No wonder, said Van der Valk, that once on the street or in a car people who live in these places become utterly demented." (p. 93) This describes perfectly the apartment in which I live. It was built in the 1960's and was very modern and has been modernized. No charm, no character - except in the furniture or what we hang on the walls. "Demented" may be hyperbole, but "depressed", surely.
On a darker note: "...when he came back he would find the place livable for once, with a smell of ironing, clothes in piles, and a wife in a housecoat, all nicely stuffy and reactionary: a wife-slave, and happy about it." (p. 93 still)
The author on his characters: "Arlette was a humble woman. She saw herself as a snobbish, narrow, rigid, French provincial bourgeois. Piet [Van der Valk], born and bred in Amsterdam, used to describe himself as a peasant. This humility gave them both an unusual breadth, stability, and balance..." (p. 131)
This is not a book with which to begin the series; nor is it really satisfactory as a crime-story. But the ending is not without interest and I suspect that those who have read others in the series will be pleased to find several old characters suddenly cast in new roles.
April 15, 2020
(Spoiler alert)
This book has a couple of distinct sections. The first is Van der Valk’s last case. He has been promoted and given a new assignment in the Hague, administration rather than detecting. It comes with an apartment which is a benefit, but it is poky, cramped and dull and neither he nor Arlette really like it. It is a temporary lodging till he can retire. The job is dull as well.
A young man visits him in his office to ask his advice about and incident at his work at an antique shop. He was told to throw out some old boxes and found in one of them a valuable gold watch – Patek Philippe in excellent condition. He did not return it immediately; now he is afraid that he will be accused of stealing if he does turn it in to his boss. Van der Valk tells him to use his best judgement, but no crime has been committed yet. The young man does eventually tell his boss, who tells him to keep the watch and not worry – insurance would be too much of a hassle at this point. Van der Valk is curious about the whole thing and decides to investigate a bit, on his own, not a police case, just to satisfy his curiosity. He mooches around to see what he can find out about the business and the boss. The young man’s boss seems to be grooming him for something, takes him to a private party where drugs and flamboyant sex are on offer. He is alarmed at what he hears about the curious policeman and decides he must be stopped.
The second section is a first person account of the author’s relationship with Van der Valk – how they met (when author was working as a restaurant chef and was arrested for stealing food). Van der Valk treated him fairly and they became friends, their wives became friends and they remained friends over the years. This section segues into an account of Arlette’s quest to find out what happened to her husband. The police have returned to her all of Van der Valk’s notes, his notebooks with his observations and questions about the non-case. After some months the police have no answers and have pretty much given up. She is not looking for vengeance, just some sense of who and why, so she returns to Amsterdam to try to find out on her own. She goes back to their old neighborhood, to see the elderly piano teacher in the downstairs apartment, the young artist and his wife currently living in what was their apartment, and the local butcher and his wife. All are sympathetic and anxious to help her in her quest. It is a delightfully sympathetic and surprisingly effective group of volunteers.
The whole structure of the book and its cast of characters give unique send off to a truly remarkable series.
This book has a couple of distinct sections. The first is Van der Valk’s last case. He has been promoted and given a new assignment in the Hague, administration rather than detecting. It comes with an apartment which is a benefit, but it is poky, cramped and dull and neither he nor Arlette really like it. It is a temporary lodging till he can retire. The job is dull as well.
A young man visits him in his office to ask his advice about and incident at his work at an antique shop. He was told to throw out some old boxes and found in one of them a valuable gold watch – Patek Philippe in excellent condition. He did not return it immediately; now he is afraid that he will be accused of stealing if he does turn it in to his boss. Van der Valk tells him to use his best judgement, but no crime has been committed yet. The young man does eventually tell his boss, who tells him to keep the watch and not worry – insurance would be too much of a hassle at this point. Van der Valk is curious about the whole thing and decides to investigate a bit, on his own, not a police case, just to satisfy his curiosity. He mooches around to see what he can find out about the business and the boss. The young man’s boss seems to be grooming him for something, takes him to a private party where drugs and flamboyant sex are on offer. He is alarmed at what he hears about the curious policeman and decides he must be stopped.
The second section is a first person account of the author’s relationship with Van der Valk – how they met (when author was working as a restaurant chef and was arrested for stealing food). Van der Valk treated him fairly and they became friends, their wives became friends and they remained friends over the years. This section segues into an account of Arlette’s quest to find out what happened to her husband. The police have returned to her all of Van der Valk’s notes, his notebooks with his observations and questions about the non-case. After some months the police have no answers and have pretty much given up. She is not looking for vengeance, just some sense of who and why, so she returns to Amsterdam to try to find out on her own. She goes back to their old neighborhood, to see the elderly piano teacher in the downstairs apartment, the young artist and his wife currently living in what was their apartment, and the local butcher and his wife. All are sympathetic and anxious to help her in her quest. It is a delightfully sympathetic and surprisingly effective group of volunteers.
The whole structure of the book and its cast of characters give unique send off to a truly remarkable series.
April 6, 2024
An audacious and remarkable and sympathetic book in many ways, particularly in the Penguin paperback format, but undermined by the great gaping implausibility of almost everything that happens in it. I'm giving it a high rating for its singular nature but it's amazing what people could get away with in the 60s and 70s, and particularly Freeling.
July 11, 2020
One of my favorites. I love Arlette going back to the old neighborhood and finding she had been wrong about everyone all along. I always say perspective is everything. You admire her strength and determination.
June 21, 2017
reread.
April 22, 2020
Read April 2020
August 3, 2012
I struggled through A Long Silence. It didn’t work for me at a number of levels. First, Freeling’s style is more show than tell, with lengthy descriptive, reflective and back story passages. Second, the plot just didn’t seem to make much sense: a person recruited off the street without any assessment; going to a policeman in another city because a watch was found; assassinating a policeman who is barely trying and has no evidence of any wrongdoing. Third, the author inserts himself into the story immediately after he kills off his detective to provide a personal account of the real life detective on which Piet Van der Valk was based and his relationship with him and his wife. It's a strange interlude, especially as a lot of it is not that complementary and quite misogynist. And it totally disrupts the narrative flow of the novel. The second half is a little better, swapping into a cozy, but the resolution is a bit of a damp squib. All in all, a weak story and storytelling that failed to provide a compelling narrative.
April 23, 2013
started out very slow and I almost put it down, permanently. However the plot picked up and the book became engaging. The writer's style is overly verbose in my opinion. He seems to string words together just for the fun of it rather than for crafting a story such that although he can turn a great phrase and has a way with words, I found the story to bog down in his verbose flights of fancy...plus, just as the story was finally starting to pick up, the author went off on a really annoying and much too long conversation with the reader which added nothing whatsoever to the story. Sometimes while reading this book I felt as if I were trapped in a conversation with someone who just would not stop talking....
October 13, 2016
Melko vähän tässä oikeastaan tapahtui ja se melko vähä kerrottiin hämmästyttävän pitkästi. Kirjan huonoin ominaisuus oli kuitenkin sen takakannessa. Joku oli taas kirjoittanut juonilyhennelmän, joka paljasti noin puolessa välissä kirjaa tapahtuvan asian. Mikä spoileri! Grrr.
September 5, 2022
Read in Danish a long time ago.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews