Nicolas Freeling: The Widow (UK 2001)

From the Publisher:
Arlette van der Valk re-marries and sets up an advisory bureau in Strasbourg. When a young British girl seeks her help, Arlette finds herself drawn into a dangerous world of international drug smuggling and murder.

Nicolas Freeling: The Widow. A Van der Valk Thriller. House of Stratus, ISBN: 1842328506 (June, 2001), 266 p., £6.99.

Nicolas Freeling: The Widow (USA 1980)

From the Publisher:
"A superb tale." -- THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Arlette van der Valk -- widow of the famous Dutch detective whose killers she tracked down in Auprès de Ma Blonde -- is happily remarried and living in Strasbourg. The provincial life grates. Bored with domesticity, her independence and energy untapped, she sets up a counseling-information service which quickly brings her three clients: a pretty and rebellious teen-aged girl whose accusations against her father may -- or may not -- be adolescent dramatizations; a businessman with a secret he is afraid to tell or hide; and a working-class English woman determined to escape from her increasingly violent French lover. As she pursues solutions to their problems, Arlette finds her new career leading her into adventures far more complex than she had expected -- and far more dangerous.

"Brilliant." -- NEW YORK MAGAZINE
"Nicolas Freeling, who has given the detective story new dimension much as John Le Carré has done for the spy novel, has dropped his latest bombshell." -- NEWSWEEK

Nicolas Freeling: The Widow. An Arlette Van der Valk Novel of Suspense. Vintage Books, ISBN: 0394744675 (September, 1980), 293 p., $1.95 (?).

Nicolas Freeling: The Widow (USA 1979)

From the Publisher:
Whenever a list is made of the great detective fiction heroes of modern times, Nicolas Freeling's Inspector van der Valk is invariably among the first names. Few heroes have been so satisfyingly portrayed or so widely admired. It therefore came as a great shock to Freeling's readers when he decided to kill van der Valk in the prime of life. No one in the history of detective fiction had ever done in a major character in this way; many of Freeling's fans have found it hard to forgive him. In this new book, however, he may well win their pardon, for he has started a new and promising series, the heroine of which will be Arlette, van der Valk's widow.

Those who followed the van der Valk series will remember that in Auprès de Ma Blonde (now just reissued as a Vintage paperback to coincide with the publication of The Widow), Arlette tracked down her husband's killers. But she has not been heard of since, and we now find her remarried, happily resettled in her native France and living in Strasbourg. The provincial life grates; and with her independence and vitality untapped, she feels the need to undertake a new career. She decides to set up a kind of counseling service -- an informal advice bureau -- but soon finds her new career leading her into areas far more complex than she had expected, and far more dangerous.

Freeling's fans will rejoice, we feel certain, at the beginning of this new series. It is the author's intention to write the novels featuring Henri Castang, and Arlette van der Valk, alternately. Accordingly, a new Castang is envisaged for the beginning of 1980.

Nicolas Freeling was born in London and raised in France and England. After his military service in World War II, he traveled extensively throughout Europe, working as a professional cook in a number of hotels and restaurants. His first book, Love in Amsterdam, was published in 1961. Since then, he has written seventeen novels and two non-fiction works. His most recent books have been Gadget, a novel of suspense, and the fourth Henri Castang novel, The Night Lords. Mr. Freeling was awarded a golden dagger by the Crime Writers in 1963, the Grand Prix de Roman Policier in 1965, and the Edgar Allan Poe Award of the Mystery Writers Association in 1966.

Mr. Freeling lives in France with his wife and their five children.

Jacket photograph by Deborah Turbeville
Jacket design by Paul Gamarello/Eyetooth

Nicolas Freeling: The Widow. Pantheon Books, ISBN: 0394503368 (September, 1979), 249 p., $8.95 (?).