The Sergeant's Cat & Other Stories

Amsterdam Cops Mysteries #Short stories

by Janwillem van de Wetering

The philosophical Detective Adjutant Grijpstra and his assistant, Sergeant de Gier, appear in eight of these superb mystery stories. In one they learn which of two lady friends put a bullet through the head of a handsome oceanographer found dead amidst his tanks of shiny, living mussels. In another they strong-arm a brutal crime-lord whose henchman threatens the sergeant's cat. Another finds them wondering how a man could explode a wife-killing bomb in the country while he was, all the time, in his city office. Still another leads them to a murderer whose weapon is a chocolate Easter bunny. And that's just the beginning: the collection contains six other stories, each touched with that curious blend of wit and the macabre which readers have come to expect from the pen of Janwillem van de Wetering.

There goes Ravelaar --
Six this, six that --
The deadly egg --
Sure blue, and dead too --
The sergeant's cat --
The machine gun and the mannequin --
Houseful of mussels --
Letter present --
A tasty tidbit --
A great sight --
A tale with an end --
Jacob Sander's final solution --
The yoga yo-yo --
The new disciple

Genres: Short Stories, Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Dutch Literature

215 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 12, 1987

About the author

Jan Willem Lincoln "Janwillem" van de Wetering was the author of a number of works in English and Dutch.

Reviews

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say I really enjoyed this quirky collection of short stories. I'd read the first Amsterdam Cops book, Outsider in Amsterdam by Janwillem van de Wetering last year and enjoyed it very much. The Sergeant's Cat & Other Stories is a series of short stories featuring the Amsterdam cops, Adjutant Gripjstra and Sgt de Gier.

The book is a nice surprise. Over half of the stories feature the two cops and then for the last six we move out of Amsterdam and across the ocean for a variety of different and fascinating stories, even a dystopic end of the world story. The cop stories are all (and I'm using this word again) quirky and intriguing. While I might totally understand this term, at times it's almost theatre of the absurd. Van de Wetering has a nice touch compressing his mysteries into the short story format. The cops are humorous and basically use their intuition in figuring out the various mysteries. Their conversations make most of the stories Gripjstra is pudgy and curmudgeonly and de Gier handsome and intuitive.

The last of the Amsterdam cop stories is particularly interesting. Letter Present features the two only in periphery and is more of a letter to them explaining the crime committed. It makes for a fascinating story. In the final stories, we move to Maine for some of them. Van de Wetering moved to Maine with his wife later in his life and that probably explains those stories. I think he actually plays a role in one of them. These stories had a much different tone, somewhat darker. The scifi story was very interesting. For the final two stories, van Wetering moves to India and Japan, both of them entertaining.

All in all the book contained a series of entertaining short stories. I enjoyed them and look forward to continuing with van de Wetering's writing (4 stars)

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a series of books I discovered when I was way younger and what struck me mostly was that they were written in English and about the Dutch police, especially police-officers Grijpstra & de Gier. As a student I did sell the almost complete series for the obvious reasons.

There a two movies, one with the famous Rutger Hauer and that one is easily my favorite. A TV series lasting 4 seasons, of which I have seen not so much.

What amazed me mostly about the Grijpstra & de Gier novels is that they were not translated in English or in Dutch, but that both versions were written for a different market so are similar but different. I find that an amazing feat for any writer. The version I am reading currently is the Dutch version, and I had not read this particular collection of short stories. However for anybody interested in this writers' mystery books it is the perfect way to get to know the writer as he changes his storytelling style with almost every tale.

The first seven stories have Grijpstra & de Gier in common the other stories have the mystery or crime hook and a few are just about living your life from a Buddhist perspective as Mr van de Wetering was an accomplished zen-Buddhist.

I have always enjoyed this writers style in which he tells a story which is far more about the characters and far less about action and police procedures.

[Avid Series Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Sergeant's Cat by Janwillem van de Wetering is a collection of 13 short stories in the Amsterdam Cops mystery series set in late-20th-century Amsterdam. Adjutant Henk Grijpstra and Sergeant Rinus de Gier are veteran detectives in the Murder Brigade. They investigate and solve crimes with intuition. Often it leads them to direct evidence; if not, their subtle questioning method elicits confession. Typical banter between the detectives is filled with wry humor, making the stories more entertaining than mysterious or suspenseful. A common theme in the short stories, that I don't recall from the series novels, is the shortage of jail cells, hence a Queen-decreed mandate to deter criminals from further crimes, rather than arrest them.

Not yet nine o'clock on a Sunday is early, especially when the Sunday is Easter.

Not a passionate man, but lawyers seldom are. Lawyers practice detachment; they identify with their clients, but only up to a point.

We don't hang up on bizarre calls. Quite often the bizarre is true.

How does the accusing pencil connect the given points? How well did I know this Hubert?

I was forgetting at the time that Dad was also a kind old man, not just a fat fence that had to be kicked down to open our way.

Detectives of the Murder Brigade are always ankle-deep in a quagmire of sticky evil.

Good strategy--true kindness is a most fearsome weapon.

"Van Gogh" de Gier said. "There's a throat-scrape at the end. And the o is not long like in Ophelia but short like in osprey."

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these are Amsterdam Cops stories, but there are also half a dozen other short stories, all of which come with interesting twists in the tail, from the weird to the decidedly creepy.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Besides being satisfyingly written stories, this collection is a delight because each story is unique unto itself, not just another repetition of the same style like some collections are.

[Pamela Mclaren · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Sergeant's Cat is a selection of short stories that can be viewed as sometimes humorous, silly and at times very serious. van de Wetering's characters Grijpstra and de Gier are strong characters and the stories are interesting but they are also a bit macabre. Van de Wetering is Dutch and the not to everyone's taste. Like the story of which the collection is titled: a brutal crime lord has henchman that threaten the sergeant's cat, or the one in which a murderer uses a poisoned chocolate Easter bunny.

I enjoyed these stories for their cleverness and the sly humor of the stories. Many of these feature rich descriptions of Amsterdam, a city I have visited, and a successful pairing of the two main characters: Grijpstra, who is middle-aged, heavy set, short, and plays jazz or paints in his off-hours; de Gier is younger, attractive and considered a success with women. Grijpstra can be more serious in his interactions but there are moments when de Gier is as well.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not really police procedurals, as it's all a bit happenstance, a bit surface, a bit trying too hard to amuse. I didn't realise this was a collection of short stories until I actually sat down to read it, and why I trudged through to the end I couldn't tell you, unless it was just a wrongheaded refusal to let a book get the better of me.
It had the smell of Murder, She Wrote mixed with the nastier bits of Roald Dahl. And no, that's not a compliment, thank you.
I see there are actual novels featuring the not-so-dynamic duo, but I don't think I'll bother. The cat only appeared in one story, anyway.
Meh. A star and a half.

[Alison Hardtmann · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've long enjoyed the "Amsterdam Cops" series of police procedurals by Dutch author Janwillem van de Wetering. They lean more on the personalities of the investigating officers than on the mysteries themselves and are gentle in tone, and yet I love spending time with Grijpstra and de Gier and their associates. The series is set during the sixties and seventies and feature Amsterdam as a quiet backwater with an occasional tourist. I was in the mood for short stories and so picked up The Sergeant's Cat and Other Stories, which is a collection that spans the life of the series.

While the novels in the series allow the characters depth and nuance, short stories don't give the author enough time to develop the various miscreants, victims and dupes into full characters and given that the books were written a half century ago, many of the stories have aged badly. Some stories were fun -- the titular story involving a death threat to de Gier's cat was delightful, but too many involved foreigners behaving like cartoon stereo-types and the mysteries were too thin a scaffolding to make this book worth reading. Go read one of the novels in this series, and give the short stories a miss.

[James Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Divertingly quirky stories of a detective duo in Amsterdam. it is always nice to read of other cultures, and find how universally linked we all are, and these short tales are a fun way of luxuriating in the lives of others for a while. Although the stories are good, they are also a little lacking in believability sometimes- perhaps because the author always has one eye on Cherstertonian methods. It is fun though.

[Chracker]

I'm re-reading it in order to find a suitable crime short story for my year 9 class. I think they'll like the slightly quirky, cynically existential approach to crime that De Gier and Grijpstra embody. They have elements of Lethal Weapon dynamic (buddy cops, one old and more restrained, the other younger, more impulsive) all in the delightfully exotic setting of Amsterdam.

[LJ Eames · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quirky little detective stories with lightening fast and sometimes bizarre resolution. Eclectic characters. Very enjoyable.

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised with the odd stories at the end of the book. I realize the author spent time in a zen monastery and community, but they were an unexpected addition to the collection.

[Julie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not sure why I added this to my Goodreads to-read mystery shelf but ooof, this was a stinker. Whatever article or review I read was sorely mistaken. I gave it 50+ pages - read the first three stories. Just....no.

Not very mysterious mysteries, dated characters, stilted unfunny dialogue that I think - maybe? - was meant to be funny. Odd English vocabulary and disjointed sentence structure, random creepy sexism....hard pass from me.