Death of a Hawker

A riot has erupted in New Market Square, transforming the normally sedate streets of Amsterdam into a mass of angry protesters. So when the body of the “King” of the local street market is found in his house with his head bashed in, the police are puzzled. The adjoining street has been closed off all day, and the constables stationed outside the scene of the crime didn’t detect any unusual activity. There are only two people who could have reasonably committed the violent act: the victim’s roommate upstairs and his beautiful sister downstairs. Both claim to have seen or heard nothing suspicious when the crime took place. But something isn’t adding up. Is one of them the killer?Praise for Janwillem van de Wetering

“Masterly Zen mysteries.”
—The New York Times Book Review

"[Van de Wetering] is doing what Simenon might have done if Albert Camus had sublet his skull."
—John Leonard

"What makes this series so engaging is that the policemen are as quirky and complicated as the criminals."
—The Washington Post

“Van de Wetering’s wry style might be compared to caviar . . . Once you’re hooked, there’s nothing like it.”
—The San Diego Union Tribune
Janwillem van de Wetering (1931–2008) was born and raised in Rotterdam, but lived most recently in Surry, Maine. He served as a member of the Amsterdam Special Constabulary and was once a Zen Buddhist monk. He is renowned for his detective fiction, including Outsider in Amsterdam, The Corpse on the Dike, The Japanese Corpse, The Maine Massacre, which garnered him the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière, and ten other books in the Amsterdam Cops series.