Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jun 2013
336 pages
Genre: Mysteries
Publication Information
The beautiful medieval architecture of Bruges belies the dark longings of her residents. When the wealthy and powerful Ludovic Degroof's jewelry store is broken into, nothing is stolen, but the jewels have been dissolved in jars if aqua regia, an acid so strong it can even melt gold. In the empty safe is a scrap of paper on which a strange square has been drawn.
At first, Inspector Van In pays little attention to the paper, focusing on the bizarre nature of the burglary. But when Degroof's offspring also receive letters with this same square, Van In and the beautiful new DA Hannelore Martens find themselves unraveling a complex web of enigmatic Latin phrase and a baroness' fallen family and Degroof's relationship with a hostage grandchild, ransomed for a priceless collection of art.
"Starred Review. Van In and his eccentric cast of colleagues will be welcome companions for many readers, who will probably find comparisons to Simenon's Maigret." - Publishers Weekly
"For those who discovered the Belgian city depicted here in the 2008 film In Bruges, this book will be a welcome return - with plenty more to come via translations of more Van In books, one hopes." - Kirkus
"The Flemish Georges Simenon." - Le Figaro (France)
"A very likeable and very politically incorrect group of detectives. Humor is permanent, the plot is well constructed,and the whole story extremely exotic." - L'Express (France)
"Aspe is and always will be one of our best authors. An exciting murder mystery, a pinch of humor, and a generous serving of sex are among the highlights of the series." - Crimezone.nl (Netherlands)
This information about The Square of Revenge was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Pieter Aspe is the author of a series detective stories starring inspector Van In. The Square of Revenge is the first novel to be translated into English. Pieter lives in Bruges, Belgium, and is on of the most popular writers contemporary writers in the Flemish language.
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