Nicolas Freeling: This is the Castle (UK 2001)

From the Publisher:
Duty Lemaire is a successful author who lives with his wife and family in a chateau in France. Surrounded by adoring fans, he is prone to fantasising about women, until his private world collapses around him, leading to tragedy.

Nicolas Freeling: This is the Castle. House of Stratus, ISBN: 1842328468 (July, 2001), 208 p., £6.99.

Nicolas Freeling: This is the Castle (UK 1971)

From the Publisher:
The writer Dutheil, famous, difficult, a recluse, is drawn more and more into the violent country of his imagination.
Does he in fact live in a castle with valuable antique furniture? Is he having an affair with his secretary? What really does the American journalist want in coming to interview him? And what about his feelings towards his daughter - incestuous or disciplinary?

The crunch comes at the end of a long, tense day: does he kill?

Cover design by Robert Hollingsworth

Nicolas Freeling: This is the Castle. Penguin, ISBN: 0140032967 (August, 1971), 187 p., 25p.

Nicolas Freeling: This is the Castle (USA 1970)

From the Publisher:
A MYSTERY ABOUT A CRIME OF PASSION
NICOLAS FREELING
THIS IS THE CASTLE
"Nicolas Freeling, whose memorable debut with DEATH IN AMSTERDAM came in 1963 and set reviewers happily and propitiously to calling him 'the Dutch Simenon', has simultaneously gained the heights of suspense-storytelling and moved into a novel of characterization with THIS IS THE CASTLE. It's a splendid narrative dealing with the rich and strange household of a modern French castle. Brilliantly sophisticated and packed with startling insights." -- Chicago Tribune

Other Titles by Nicolas Freeling:
DOUBLE BARREL
DEATH IN AMSTERDAM
BECAUSE OF THE CATS
THE DRESDEN GREEN
A QUESTION OF LOYALTY
STRIKE OUT WHERE NOT APPLICABLE

Nicolas Freeling: This is the Castle. New York: Ballantine, 1970, Ballantine Books #01817, 192 p., 75¢.

Nicolas Freeling: This is the Castle (USA 1968)

From the Publisher:
Robert Coates says: "Thanks immensely for sending me Nicolas Freeling's This Is the Castle. I found it truly engrossing... I have rarely read anything so suspenseful and ordinarily I'm not one of those 'couldn't put it down' types, either. But I pretty nearly was in this case. I just couldn't wait to get on with it. I felt drawn on from page to page and resented every interruption. A swell job, in other words, and congratulations to the author. Darned good writing, too!"

Marc Sabatier, Dutheil's publisher, was trying to explain Dutheil, that prolific and amazing novelist, to the American journalist who had come to France to interview him.

As the two men flew over Fontainebleau on their way to the interview, Sabatier pointed out the palace.
Dutheil's home was a fair imitation of it, he said, and added, "Dutheil's not exactly easy. Got precious little use for journalists. Neurotic about publicity, that's why. Never comes to Paris, gives no interviews -- makes rather a catch for you."
"Not sure that I want it that badly," said the American, who was by then wondering why he'd let himself be persuaded to travel all over the countryside to reach an essentially second-rate novelist just because the man had become successful and rich and had ensconced himself in some sort of a castle. It all seemed rather stupid, really.

As for Dutheil, awaiting their arrival, he didn't know why he'd allowed Sabatier to bring the fellow down to disturb his routine. But everyone had been a bit annoying that day: his wife and his mistress, and especially his daughter Veronique.

NICOLAS FREELING, whose Inspector Van der Valk novels have delighted a great many readers, has here written quite a different but a mesmerizing story, which seems to be dealing with the nervous tensions in one wealthy man's household but, in its quietly explosive fashion, is really talking about a lot of men. It's a shocker of a book -- and an impressive one.

Jacket design by Raymond Waite

Nicolas Freeling: This is the Castle. A Novel. New York: Harper & Row, 1968, 218 p., $4.95.