The hollow-eyed angel. Amsterdam Cops (13)

"To sin or not to have sinned, that is the question" raised by the head of Amsterdam's Murder Brigade in this 13th installment of the series by Janwillem van de Wetering. A Buddhist mystic, the Murder Brigade leader is off to New York with an underling, the nihilist Sergeant de Gier, to solve the murder of a countryman who dies under horrible conditions in Central Park. Like its 12 predecessors, this is a Zen mystery, and simple questions of guilt and innocence sometimes take a back seat to deeper philosophical musings. The commissaris is about to be retired from the Amsterdam Police when Johan Termeer, a volunteer cop, comes to him with a personal request. Termeer's only relative has been found dead in New York City, under an azalea bush in Central Park. New York's Finest can't seem to explain the cause of death. He fears that his eccentric old Uncle Bert may have been murdered! Can't the commissaris help? The commissaris, who is being haunted by the nightmare of a skull superimposed upon the image of a sexy blonde streetcar driver, is reluctant to intervene. But since he has a Police Convention to attend in New York anyway, he agrees to make an inquiry. And the death's head dream comes true While Attending A Convention In New York, Two Amsterdam Policemen Investigate The Death Of A Dutchman For A Colleague Back Home. The Colleague Thinks The Victim, Who Was His Uncle, Was Murdered. Thirteenth Book In A Series By A Former Amsterdam Policeman And Zen Buddhist Monk. Janwillem Van De Wetering.