The spiritual brothers of Grijpstra & De Gier

April 18, 2023 7:48 PM

My father and I are big fans of Janwillem van de Wetering's Amsterdam Detective series, particularly of the relationships between the three leads and the zen-like way that the stories unfold. Wondering if anyone knows of a similar book or set of books out there.
posted by Tell Me No Lies to Media & Arts (2 answers total)

Tough question. JvdW is pretty close to unique. Some of his pre-G&DG work has the Zen component. List at Wikimedia.

There are various scattered novels where the investigating duo is on an equal footing unlike Holmes and Watson. The later Dorothy Sayers novels wth both Peter and Harriet for example. Have His Carcase is one. No Zen in Sayers world, though.
posted by SemiSalt at 6:27 AM on April 19, 2023 [1 favorite]

I was looking around again pondering some mysteries set in North Korea and trying to remember if they were the Inspecter O books or not, and whether there was any Zen or not. Still don't know, but I stumbled on an essay at the U of Colorado titled "Zen and the Art of Sherlock Holmes." It might be an interesting read.

Other than that, the most likely thing I found was The Zen Detective by Devorah Fox.
posted by SemiSalt at 3:59 PM on April 20, 2023