Nicolas Freeling: Because of the Cats

From the Publisher:
Chief Inspector Piet Van der Valk of the Amsterdam police has a teenage gang on his hands: they are coming into Amsterdam from out-of-town, and they are remarkably professional. They leave behind a trail of wanton damage, senseless brutality, and rape, and one piece of possible evidence - 'the cats won't like it'.

As usual, Van der Valk's approach to the case is both unorthodox and intensely human. He immerses himself in the lives of his suspects, and in the small-town atmosphere of the seaside resort in which they live, and cracks the facade of respectability behind which they hide. Under his obsessive probing the mystery is eventually unravelled, but not before there has been a final explosion of violence as the cats act to defend themselves.

Nicolas Freeling: Because of the Cats. A Case for Van der Valk. Arcadia Books, ISBN: 1900850362 (September, 2000); 192 p., $13.95