Always looking for a new great detective, I was very happy to discover Pieter Aspe and his Bruge Police Commissioner Peter Van In.
From Bruges With Love (also titled The Children of Chronos) is the third in a series, and I had the pleasure to not know the backstory, just naturally enjoy the characters and let the relationships emerge.
Van In is focused and may appear gruff, but he is quite easy going, willing to bend rules. His work partner Versavel is gay, his wife Hannelore ranks above him as the Deputy assigned to this case. A skeleton has been found on a rural farm, forensics date it back to the 80's. The previous owner of the farm was a registered woman's charity begun by several leading men in the community. They operate in a different location now. When it is discovered this was actually an underground brothel catering to the elite, the men are investigated and a few murders follow. There is another local whorehouse to investigate whose owner has absconded to Malta with a fortune, a private investigator tracking him down, a rookie undercover policewoman, an old pedophile worried his history will out, a mole inside the police force, childhood bullying that left deep scars, and a transsexual connected to them all at the root of it.
For me this began as a character study of Van In, Versavel, and Hannelore, not knowing their past. Then the mystery kicked in with so many historical ties (and surnames beginning with V) you could get lost - but Aspe handles it all smoothly. The ending became unnecessarily violent for me, out of keeping with the tone of the book, but it is over in a page or two.
If you are looking for a new detective, Van In and his crew have everything you would want in a mystery. Recommended.
Originally published as De kinderen van Chronos in 1997
2015 (translated 2015) / Tradeback / 325 pages
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