What do you think?
Rate this book
Henri Castang #1
A Dressing of Diamonds
A Henri Castang Mystery - For Colette Delavigne, one of France's youngest judges, life takes a terrifying twist when she returns from work one night to find her daughter has been abducted. Henri Castang is sought out to investigate her vanishing and Delavigne's profession seems to have more than a little to do with the disappearance. To Castang this is no ordinary kidnapping.
248 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
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
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 11, 2011
many years ago over the course of years, i read almost all of nicolas freeling's novels, with both van der valk and castang detectives. i enjoyed them because of the uniqueness of writing style and the complexity of his characterizations. it is probable that most readers who would enjoy his style and works have not heard of him.
August 27, 2020
Well, I was looking at my bookshelf and wondering why I kept these old mysteries all these years, so I've picked up a couple. Nicolas Freeling is the nom de plume of an English mystery writer. This series, with his French cop protagonist struck me as so mature and adult in its treatment of class, policing, and relationships, that it makes a lot of other mystery writes seem juvenile, with their emphasis on violence. I appreciate that these characters don't have drinking problems like every Scandinavian hero. I also like the open discussion of the class and political issues raised in the book.
January 19, 2010
This is a curious book - I liked some of his others, and this was the first for his new character. I have the sense that he had saved up a lot of observations and pet peeves about the French and poured many of them into this - the various asides and diatribes are entertaining but sometimes an odd distraction, interrupting the flow of writing somewhat. Still worth reading for a number of reasons, including the observations on the French, and their version of class warfare.
February 12, 2018
I enjoyed a few of the van der Valk mysteries a good long while ago. After Freeling killed him off, he found a new detective, Henri Castang, in France. Castang and his wife are interesting characters, but I'm a little uncertain about the book. A procedural with no murder, a pleasant change. Interesting information about the workings of the French legal system. Good resolution. But somehow not as good as I remember van der Valk to be. (Maybe that's because I've been around Amsterdam.)
February 23, 2026
Dressing of Diamonds
Wonderful read as always. Freeling has such a way of bringing his characters to life, most especially Vera. He has a lovely, clever use of language interspersed with a bit of philosophy regarding human behavior. I am never disappointed by one of his books and am always sorry when one comes to an end.
Wonderful read as always. Freeling has such a way of bringing his characters to life, most especially Vera. He has a lovely, clever use of language interspersed with a bit of philosophy regarding human behavior. I am never disappointed by one of his books and am always sorry when one comes to an end.
October 6, 2020
I enjoy this story.
May 20, 2015
A surprise! A below-average work from Nicolas Freeling, one of my absolutely most favorite authors. Among about 15 books of his that I read (I have reviewed nine of them on Goodreads) there are several masterpieces of the mystery/crime genre and almost all of them are first-rate, deserving four stars. Alas, "Dressing of Diamond", the first novel in the Castang series, is also the first book by Mr. Freeling that I do not much like. Although I love books that surprise me - reading books that are exactly as expected is pretty boring, that's why series are not my thing - "Dressing of Diamond" has surprised me in a "wrong way". Not only do I not understand a presumably important thread in the novel, but also Mr. Freeling's writing, usually superb, maybe the best of all mystery/crime novelists, is not up to his stellar standards.
Colette Delavigne is a Judge of Instruction, specializing in children cases, in a French town. She is happily married to Bernard, a local businessman, and has an eight-year-old daughter, Rachel. One day, when Colette comes home from grocery shopping, Rachel is not home. Colette's panic grows, she calls her daughter's friends and their parents, but Rachel is nowhere to be found. Colette is friends with Inspector Castang's wife, Vera, so she calls the inspector. So far the story has followed rather standard tracks, well known from many thrillers about child abductions.
However, with Castang entering the story, things become strange - the characters talk about finer points of French law using language that sounds stilted and unnatural, resembling fragments of legal or philosophical essays. Absent is the stunning stream-of-consciousness narration of many of Mr. Freeling's books. What's more, a thread develops that suggests the relationships between the four central characters are less straightforward than they seem. This comes from nowhere and leads nowhere so I do not understand the whole purpose of the exercise. Maybe I am too obtuse to get the author's message.
On the positive side, the narration by Rachel is accurately childlike - many authors could learn from Mr. Freeling how children perceive things. The prolonged negotiations with a judge about the applicability of a certain legal procedure are shown with acute insight. The homage to Albertine Sarrazin is moving, and Mr. Freeling still manages to inject some of his wise cynicism, e.g., "the whole society is based upon thinking ill of others, and [...] the chief pleasure of the human animal in all walks of life is back-biting."
Despite the novel being way out of mainstream, which usually is a good thing, and despite several passages showing great depth, I am unable to rate the novel with more than
Two and a half stars.
Colette Delavigne is a Judge of Instruction, specializing in children cases, in a French town. She is happily married to Bernard, a local businessman, and has an eight-year-old daughter, Rachel. One day, when Colette comes home from grocery shopping, Rachel is not home. Colette's panic grows, she calls her daughter's friends and their parents, but Rachel is nowhere to be found. Colette is friends with Inspector Castang's wife, Vera, so she calls the inspector. So far the story has followed rather standard tracks, well known from many thrillers about child abductions.
However, with Castang entering the story, things become strange - the characters talk about finer points of French law using language that sounds stilted and unnatural, resembling fragments of legal or philosophical essays. Absent is the stunning stream-of-consciousness narration of many of Mr. Freeling's books. What's more, a thread develops that suggests the relationships between the four central characters are less straightforward than they seem. This comes from nowhere and leads nowhere so I do not understand the whole purpose of the exercise. Maybe I am too obtuse to get the author's message.
On the positive side, the narration by Rachel is accurately childlike - many authors could learn from Mr. Freeling how children perceive things. The prolonged negotiations with a judge about the applicability of a certain legal procedure are shown with acute insight. The homage to Albertine Sarrazin is moving, and Mr. Freeling still manages to inject some of his wise cynicism, e.g., "the whole society is based upon thinking ill of others, and [...] the chief pleasure of the human animal in all walks of life is back-biting."
Despite the novel being way out of mainstream, which usually is a good thing, and despite several passages showing great depth, I am unable to rate the novel with more than
Two and a half stars.
Read
June 21, 20173 and a half stars. reread.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews