He did it again!

Deon Meyer wrote another captivating book, shorter that his other works. Let me explain why this one is sooo much shorter. This book has been published as a give away during the weeks of thrillers The Netherlands. Every year there are some weeks with special attention to thrillers. One writer is asked to write a short book to give as a present, when you buy books for a certain minimum amount, during these weeks. I do not know if this book has been published in South Africa.

In this book we meet again Bennie Griessel. He and his companion Vaugh Cupido are called to investigate a dead body, a bleached body, that has been found by a travelling group of people.  When it is clear who is the body (Alicia Lewis, who works in the art world, to discover stolen or lost art), the journey start to find out when and how and why and by whom?

Sprinkled through the story are flashbacks to the Dutch painter Fabritius, a pupil of the famous Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn (1606 – 1669). This Fabritius is followed by some people and he tries to escape.

The connection between the past (in the Dutch Republic) and the present (in the Republic of South Africa) is a painting by this Fabritius. It seems this painting has travelled to South Africa, many years ago. Who can be the owner of this painting of the lady in the blue cloack?

Will this painting, if it exist in real life, be part of the Dutch heritage or the South African heritage? The search for the murderer of Alicia Lewis brings to the fore the importance of the painting and the importance of the Boer history, and therefor the South African history.

Will the murderer be found? Will the mystery be solved, the mystery of the Bleached Body and the mystery of the painting?

To me it would have been nice to read more about the search for the painting, tracing the journey from a possible arrival in the past on the shores of Africa to the present day. But a book like this one has its limits, due to the demands of the publisher.

But is an authentic Deon Meyer, with a twist in the tail.

Deon Meyer – Die vrou in die blou mantel – 2017