Nicolas Freeling

Nicolas Freeling (born Nicolas Davidson; 3 March 1927 – 20 July 2003), was a British crime novelist, best known as the author of the Van der Valk series of detective novels. A television series based on the character was produced for the British ITV network by Thames Television during the 1970s, and revived in the 1990s.

Freeling was born in London, but travelled widely, and ended his life at his long-standing home at Grandfontaine to the west of Strasbourg. He had followed a variety of occupations, including the armed services and the catering profession. He began writing during a three-week prison sentence, after being convicted of taking home some veal from a restaurant where he worked, though this was common practice in the restaurant trade.

Freeling got bored with writing Amsterdam detective, Van der Valk and killed him off in 1972 when he was hit by a car. He refused to bring the detective back to life and wrote two novels where his widow Arlette was the detective. Then he started his second detective series, French Inspector, Henri Castang to revive his failing income, and some considered Castang superior to Van der Valk.

Freeling's The King of the Rainy Country received a 1967 Edgar Award, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Best Novel

Gun Before Butter won France's Grand Prix de Littérature Policière and was a runner up for the 1963 Gold Dagger Award.

In 1968 his novel Love in Amsterdam was adapted as the film Amsterdam Affair directed by Gerry O'Hara and starring Wolfgang Kieling as Van Der Valk.

Novels

Van der Valk series

• Love in Amsterdam (1962), a.k.a. Death in Amsterdam
• Because of the Cats (1963)
• Gun Before Butter (1963), a.k.a. Question of Loyalty
• Double-Barrel (1964)
• Criminal Conversation (1965)
• The King of the Rainy Country (1966)
• Strike Out Where Not Applicable (1967)
• Tsing-Boum! (1969)
• Over the High Side (1971), a.k.a. The Lovely Ladies
• A Long Silence (1972), a.k.a. Auprès de ma Blonde
• Sand Castles (1989)

Featuring Arlette Van der Valk

• The Widow (1979)
• One Damn Thing After Another (1981), a.k.a. Arlette

Henri Castang series

• Dressing of Diamond (1974)
• What are the Bugles Blowing For? (1975), a.k.a. The Bugles Blowing
• Lake Isle (1976), a.k.a. Sabine
• The Night Lords (1978)
• Castang's City (1980)
• Wolfnight (1982)
• The Back of the North Wind (1983)
• No Part in Your Death (1984)
• Cold Iron (1986)
• Lady Macbeth (1988)
• Not as Far as Velma (1989)
• Those in Peril (1990)
• Flanders Sky (1992), a.k.a. The Pretty How Town
• You Who Know (1994)
• The Seacoast of Bohemia (1994)
• A Dwarf Kingdom (1996)

In 1990 Not as Far as Velma was adapted as a six-part BBC Radio serial starring Keith Barron as Castang.

Other novels

• Valparaiso (1964, 1. edition as by F. R. E. Nicolas)
• The Dresden Green (1966)
• This is the Castle (1968)
• Gadget (1977)
• A City Solitary (1984)
• One More River (1998)
• Some Day Tomorrow (1999)
• The Janeites (2002)

Non-fiction

• The Kitchen (1970)
• Cook Book (1972)
• Criminal Convictions (1994)
• The Village Book (2001)
• The Kitchen and the Cook (2002)