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Lotte Meerman #4
A Death in Rembrandt Square
Guilty until proven innocent . . .
It's hard for anyone to have their work scrutinised in public. For Amsterdam-based detective Lotte Meerman, listening to the Right to Justice podcast as they dissect one of her old cases is made even more harrowing as every episode makes fresh accusations of a bungled operation.
As the podcast reveals hidden facts about the arrest of Ruud Klaver, the one thing Lotte is still convinced of is that it was Ruud who was guilty of the murder of a student near Rembrandt Square ten years earlier. However, when Ruud Klaver then dies in suspicious circumstances, only hours after the final podcast proving his innocence is broadcast, Lotte has to accept that maybe she was wrong.
With the dead man's family passionately against her inclusion in the investigation into his death, the only way for Lotte to discover who killed him is by finding out where she went wrong all those years ago - if indeed she did go wrong. As Lotte digs deeper and involves colleagues from her past, it starts to look like the murder in Rembrandt Square was part of an even bigger deception . . .
Praise for Anja de Jager
'. . . a novel brilliantly evoking the isolation of a woman with an unbearable weight on her conscience'
Sunday Times
'The book succeeds as a portrait of both a city and, in its heroine, a delightfully dysfunctional personality'
Sunday Express
'An impressive debut . . . De Jager is as good on dodgy family relations as she is on police procedure'
The Times
'Detective Lotte Meerman is damaged by her past and tortured by the dreadful mistake she's made at work . . . Amsterdam in the vicious grip of a bitter winter is the other star here, beautiful and deadly' Cath Staincliffe
It's hard for anyone to have their work scrutinised in public. For Amsterdam-based detective Lotte Meerman, listening to the Right to Justice podcast as they dissect one of her old cases is made even more harrowing as every episode makes fresh accusations of a bungled operation.
As the podcast reveals hidden facts about the arrest of Ruud Klaver, the one thing Lotte is still convinced of is that it was Ruud who was guilty of the murder of a student near Rembrandt Square ten years earlier. However, when Ruud Klaver then dies in suspicious circumstances, only hours after the final podcast proving his innocence is broadcast, Lotte has to accept that maybe she was wrong.
With the dead man's family passionately against her inclusion in the investigation into his death, the only way for Lotte to discover who killed him is by finding out where she went wrong all those years ago - if indeed she did go wrong. As Lotte digs deeper and involves colleagues from her past, it starts to look like the murder in Rembrandt Square was part of an even bigger deception . . .
Praise for Anja de Jager
'. . . a novel brilliantly evoking the isolation of a woman with an unbearable weight on her conscience'
Sunday Times
'The book succeeds as a portrait of both a city and, in its heroine, a delightfully dysfunctional personality'
Sunday Express
'An impressive debut . . . De Jager is as good on dodgy family relations as she is on police procedure'
The Times
'Detective Lotte Meerman is damaged by her past and tortured by the dreadful mistake she's made at work . . . Amsterdam in the vicious grip of a bitter winter is the other star here, beautiful and deadly' Cath Staincliffe
314 pages, Hardcover
Published April 30, 2019
8 people are currently reading
79 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
December 6, 2018
When a new novel from a favourite crime series appears I tend to greet it with mixed feelings. Excited to meet old friends and dive into a fictional world I love, but anxious in case the bloom has gone.
So it’s a thrill to find one that improves with each outing. Which is exactly what happens here.
Lotte Meerman has found a measure of happiness with Mark, but now an old case – and one that revives agonisingly painful memories – comes back to haunt her.
In a wet and windy Amsterdam the indomitable Meerman navigates her bike through the puddles and her thoughts through the complexity of a case that is intimately linked with one from her earliest days as a detective – one where she may had made more than one terrible mistake.
Dark, poignant but with some great characters and welcome flashes of wit and humour it’s a truly immersive read.
So it’s a thrill to find one that improves with each outing. Which is exactly what happens here.
Lotte Meerman has found a measure of happiness with Mark, but now an old case – and one that revives agonisingly painful memories – comes back to haunt her.
In a wet and windy Amsterdam the indomitable Meerman navigates her bike through the puddles and her thoughts through the complexity of a case that is intimately linked with one from her earliest days as a detective – one where she may had made more than one terrible mistake.
Dark, poignant but with some great characters and welcome flashes of wit and humour it’s a truly immersive read.
May 4, 2021
Country prompt challenge: The Netherlands
3.5 stars!
Lotte Meerman is a detective and solving cases in the Netherlands including one of a man she helped to convict of murdering a young man after a row in a square a decade ago. This man has now been found dead in mysterious circumstances and bringing to life some new rows from all sides. The creation of a podcast inspired by the original case only ignites the tension. Everyone has to stay safe whilst trying to uncover the truth. This isn't normally the genre I like to read from, however, it was a good read. Not in a mad rush to give the rest of the series a go.
3.5 stars!
Lotte Meerman is a detective and solving cases in the Netherlands including one of a man she helped to convict of murdering a young man after a row in a square a decade ago. This man has now been found dead in mysterious circumstances and bringing to life some new rows from all sides. The creation of a podcast inspired by the original case only ignites the tension. Everyone has to stay safe whilst trying to uncover the truth. This isn't normally the genre I like to read from, however, it was a good read. Not in a mad rush to give the rest of the series a go.
May 18, 2019
This is the fourth episode in the Lotte Meerman series taking place in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. In this book she seems to have life in order, and that is the moment when a popular podcast is about her second murder case ever for the police.
The podcast will try to convince the general public that the police made a mistake and the wrong man was convicted and spend 10 years in jail. And now that he is free his son and wife want to show the world that it was injustice.
Lotte Meerman does get involved because the person who supposedly was innocently convicted gets killed because of a hit and run car accident. Of course the family is divided about the renewed involvement of Meerman in the investigation into this murder. Especially when the podcast proves that the victim could not have been the murder for whom he was convicted.
Lotte Meermans' personality throws her into a case that she is no longer sure who and what has happened all those years ago. Her reputation & job are on the line now even that does not stop her to find out the truth.
This fourth installment is an actual improvement in writing, the leading character has become a more likable person even if she is a total dick sometimes for the people around her. The story does glide on in a comfortable pace and the book seems to be easier readable than the previous two installments I did read.
A really enjoyable book about the police in the Netherlands, which is after all my turf. Can be read out of sequence. looking forward to the fifth book.
The podcast will try to convince the general public that the police made a mistake and the wrong man was convicted and spend 10 years in jail. And now that he is free his son and wife want to show the world that it was injustice.
Lotte Meerman does get involved because the person who supposedly was innocently convicted gets killed because of a hit and run car accident. Of course the family is divided about the renewed involvement of Meerman in the investigation into this murder. Especially when the podcast proves that the victim could not have been the murder for whom he was convicted.
Lotte Meermans' personality throws her into a case that she is no longer sure who and what has happened all those years ago. Her reputation & job are on the line now even that does not stop her to find out the truth.
This fourth installment is an actual improvement in writing, the leading character has become a more likable person even if she is a total dick sometimes for the people around her. The story does glide on in a comfortable pace and the book seems to be easier readable than the previous two installments I did read.
A really enjoyable book about the police in the Netherlands, which is after all my turf. Can be read out of sequence. looking forward to the fifth book.
November 30, 2022
Thrilling
November 4, 2019
I was at Amsterdam’s Centraal Station, preparing to take the train to the sprawling Schiphol Airport (third busiest n all of Europe) for my flight to Brest, France. One of my sons texted me a message recommending three Euro-mystery novels he thought I’d enjoy reading. I thought it very thoughtful of him, so I popped over to the station bookstore. Alas! English titles are limited in a Dutch bookstore, even if they’re not by Dan Brown or James Patterson.
However, I did find one that looked interesting entitled A Death in Rembrandt Square, by Anja de Jager, Dutch born (no matter, most Dutch people in Amsterdam possess excellent English) but now a resident of London. I’d been in Amsterdam for several days, researching locations and settings for the novel I intended to begin writing once I got settled, and it was great fun to recognize the sites in de Jager’s book, from the eponymous cover title, on and on.
This is the latest in her “Lotte Meerman” series, for which she’s drawn inspiration from her father, a retired police detective. Nice to have one of those in your back pocket, to be sure. I thought the plot held merit, but I soon tired of de Jager’s limpid writing style. When one writes a mystery novel, it demands a certain energy to propel the characters and the action – the thing Dan Brown overdoes – traits which I, sad to say, found lacking in Rembrandt Square. The story seems to slog along, like the incessant Amsterdam rain.
Often, the main character n a mystery novel – usually the police officer or detective or private eye – has a certain world-weariness about him- or herself. The author seems to know this, but isn’t quite up to snuff invoking it in Lotte. Oh, she leads us down the garden path well enough, dropping red herrings to hint at Lotte’s past and current problems, but they end up lacking emotional weight.
Ms. de Jager is a tell, not a show, kind of writer – at least in this, her fourth in the series. It’s like she knows all the tropes and how the plot is supposed to go through its expository cycle – rising action, climax, falling action, denouement, etal – and has written these plot points on Post-Its for her book plan, but the rise doesn’t rise very well, and . . . well, page 153 was as far as I got. I had enjoyed breaking the spine on a brand-new novel in anticipation of five engaging hours of reading while in the air, but my chin kept falling on my chest.
However, I did find one that looked interesting entitled A Death in Rembrandt Square, by Anja de Jager, Dutch born (no matter, most Dutch people in Amsterdam possess excellent English) but now a resident of London. I’d been in Amsterdam for several days, researching locations and settings for the novel I intended to begin writing once I got settled, and it was great fun to recognize the sites in de Jager’s book, from the eponymous cover title, on and on.
This is the latest in her “Lotte Meerman” series, for which she’s drawn inspiration from her father, a retired police detective. Nice to have one of those in your back pocket, to be sure. I thought the plot held merit, but I soon tired of de Jager’s limpid writing style. When one writes a mystery novel, it demands a certain energy to propel the characters and the action – the thing Dan Brown overdoes – traits which I, sad to say, found lacking in Rembrandt Square. The story seems to slog along, like the incessant Amsterdam rain.
Often, the main character n a mystery novel – usually the police officer or detective or private eye – has a certain world-weariness about him- or herself. The author seems to know this, but isn’t quite up to snuff invoking it in Lotte. Oh, she leads us down the garden path well enough, dropping red herrings to hint at Lotte’s past and current problems, but they end up lacking emotional weight.
Ms. de Jager is a tell, not a show, kind of writer – at least in this, her fourth in the series. It’s like she knows all the tropes and how the plot is supposed to go through its expository cycle – rising action, climax, falling action, denouement, etal – and has written these plot points on Post-Its for her book plan, but the rise doesn’t rise very well, and . . . well, page 153 was as far as I got. I had enjoyed breaking the spine on a brand-new novel in anticipation of five engaging hours of reading while in the air, but my chin kept falling on my chest.
March 7, 2023
Thank goodness Lotte Meerman seems to be back to normal with this book after her 'falling apart alcoholic stalker' act in the last one!
Lotte arrested Ruud Klaver for murder 10 years ago. Now he has been freed after serving his sentence, he is protesting his innocence and a local podcast presenter is promising to reveal new evidence that will prove someone else committed the murder. Then Klaver is murdered - coincidence, revenge, or is the real killer trying to cover their tracks?
At first Lotte is adamant that Klaver must have been guilty, but gradually, doubts start to creep in. I liked the way in which her concern builds, and also the way in which she struggles to accept that she might have arrested an innocent man, and her honesty and courage in confronting that. I felt that the plot developed in a very satisfying and believable way, and truly shows that the impact of a crime extends far beyond the obvious victims of it.
4.5 stars really. Lotte is back on form, and I'm already looking forward to the next one in the series!
Lotte arrested Ruud Klaver for murder 10 years ago. Now he has been freed after serving his sentence, he is protesting his innocence and a local podcast presenter is promising to reveal new evidence that will prove someone else committed the murder. Then Klaver is murdered - coincidence, revenge, or is the real killer trying to cover their tracks?
At first Lotte is adamant that Klaver must have been guilty, but gradually, doubts start to creep in. I liked the way in which her concern builds, and also the way in which she struggles to accept that she might have arrested an innocent man, and her honesty and courage in confronting that. I felt that the plot developed in a very satisfying and believable way, and truly shows that the impact of a crime extends far beyond the obvious victims of it.
4.5 stars really. Lotte is back on form, and I'm already looking forward to the next one in the series!
March 6, 2020
The fourth crime novel featuring Amsterdam based detective Lotte Meerman sees her re-examining an old murder case in which she successfully convicted the culprit. However, the podcast ‘Right to Justice’ accuses the police of having run a bungled operation and that an innocent man was imprisoned. Lotte is convinced that the right person was caught and as the podcast is about to prove his innocence, the killer now released from prison, is mowed down in the street and Lotte has to accept that maybe she was wrong and that the murderer is now the victim.
In conflict with the dead man’s family and the podcast makers, Lotte has to revisit the original murder in order to discover the perpetrator of the latest killing. In the process she discovers that the murder all those years ago may have been a part of something much bigger.
I’m enjoying the exploits of Lotte Meerman in the streets of Amsterdam. This is a quick read, not overtly complicated but a decent crime thriller.
Rob D
In conflict with the dead man’s family and the podcast makers, Lotte has to revisit the original murder in order to discover the perpetrator of the latest killing. In the process she discovers that the murder all those years ago may have been a part of something much bigger.
I’m enjoying the exploits of Lotte Meerman in the streets of Amsterdam. This is a quick read, not overtly complicated but a decent crime thriller.
Rob D
April 21, 2020
For me, as an avid reader of the crime fiction genre, most of which is set in the UK and US, the Lotte Meerman series is a getaway vacation for me, with Ms de Jager's wonderful descriptive prose in an Amsterdam setting, with a few deaths thrown in for good measure.
A podcast documentary series called 'Fight for Justice' campaigns to clear the name of Ruud Klaver, a convicted killer who had served ten years in prison after being arrested by Detective Meerman.
A year out of prison and he is killed in a hit and run incident, and Lotte, who is hated by Klaver's family who believe he was wrongly imprisoned, is reluctantly in charge of the investigation.
A very clever plot packaged with intrigue, and unexpected twists. A five star read, leaving me looking forward to my next 'Meerman' trip to Amsterdam.
A podcast documentary series called 'Fight for Justice' campaigns to clear the name of Ruud Klaver, a convicted killer who had served ten years in prison after being arrested by Detective Meerman.
A year out of prison and he is killed in a hit and run incident, and Lotte, who is hated by Klaver's family who believe he was wrongly imprisoned, is reluctantly in charge of the investigation.
A very clever plot packaged with intrigue, and unexpected twists. A five star read, leaving me looking forward to my next 'Meerman' trip to Amsterdam.
April 25, 2022
Another Lotte Meerman crime novel set in Amsterdam. The one thing I like about her as a detective is that she doesn't always rush around in car with flashing blue lights. She literally gets on her bike and pedals it around the city.
In this book a case comes back to haunt her when a podcast declares a convicted murderer, arrested by Meerman is innocent. Subsequently he is also killed and Meerman investigates that murder.
This I found odd as there was a possibly a conflict of interests.
At times the plot gets a little convoluted involving the convicted murderer, but everything falls into place.
Meerman isn't flawless as a character and I do like this about her, but as a thriller crime novel there isn't a lot to make it stand out in a genre that is very crowded.
In this book a case comes back to haunt her when a podcast declares a convicted murderer, arrested by Meerman is innocent. Subsequently he is also killed and Meerman investigates that murder.
This I found odd as there was a possibly a conflict of interests.
At times the plot gets a little convoluted involving the convicted murderer, but everything falls into place.
Meerman isn't flawless as a character and I do like this about her, but as a thriller crime novel there isn't a lot to make it stand out in a genre that is very crowded.
June 15, 2024
This is the fourth book from the series, but the first I have read and enjoyed. Detective Lotte Meerman old case ten years earlier is featured on a true crime podcast. The podcaster, Sandra has proof the convicted killer of a student near Rembrandt Square is innocent. The podcast reveals hidden facts that the arrest and conviction of Ruud Klaver was a mistake.
It is only when Ruud Klaver is killed under suspicious circumstances that Lotte starts to wonder, if the compelling evidence and eyewitness testimony she had was false.
Looking forward to reading more books from the series, love the setting of Amersterdam in the novel.
It is only when Ruud Klaver is killed under suspicious circumstances that Lotte starts to wonder, if the compelling evidence and eyewitness testimony she had was false.
Looking forward to reading more books from the series, love the setting of Amersterdam in the novel.
December 27, 2024
This is the 4th book in the series that I've read and not enjoyed as much as the earlier three. To my mind she is overdoing the theme of terrible weather and trying to ride a bike against the wind and being soaking wet. Over doing this background in the books. Just that her writing is a bit flat after the high point of her earlier books, the plot is still excellent but could do with more input from her mum and dad and a bit less introspection on her detective's part. I felt that this narrative didn't have the verve and pace of the earlier stories.
September 3, 2019
Jumping in on book four in a series is always a dangerous strategy, with characters well established and possible spoilers of previous plots. However, A Death In Rembrandt Square jumped of the shelf and I took a punt (or should that be a canal boat?!). The book didn't let me down, I soon found myself invested in wanting the puzzle solved and needing to know the outcome. With Amsterdam taking a co-staring role I am ready to catch up with the rest of Anja Dr Jager's novels.
May 25, 2019
This series is excellent and I am enjoying the series. There are plenty of twists and turns in the story.
September 4, 2020
The first book I've read by this autour and I'm looking forward to finding more.
September 29, 2021
I have been enjoying this series and this is my favourite so far. A great gripping read.
September 21, 2025
Another light misery, not too bad. Nice.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews