Order of Nicolas Freeling Books
Nicolas Freeling was a British crime novelist that wrote the series of detective novels focused on Van der Valk. The series was later made into a television series for the British ITV Network and the show aired throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
Freeling wrote many books about Van der Valk, but eventually grew bored with the character and decided to kill him off in 1972. Despite pleas to the contrary, Freeling refused to bring the character back and wrote novels with der Valk’s widow Arlette as the detective. He would later go on to write a second detective series about a character named Henri Castang that many prefer. Freeling won an Edgar Award for Best Novel for The King of the Rainy Country and won France’s Grand Prix de Littérature Policière for Gun Before Butter.
Publication Order of Henri Castang Books
| A Dressing of Diamond | (1974) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Bugles Blowing / What Are The Bugles Blowing For? | (1975) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Sabine / Lake Isle | (1976) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Night Lords | (1978) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Castang's City | (1980) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Wolfnight | (1982) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Back of the North Wind | (1983) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| No Part in Your Death | (1984) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Cold Iron | (1986) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Lady Macbeth | (1988) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Not As Far As Velma | (1989) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Those in Peril | (1990) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Flanders Sky / The Pretty How Town | (1992) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| You Who Know | (1994) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Seacoast of Bohemia | (1994) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| A Dwarf Kingdom | (1996) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Van der Valk Books
| Love in Amsterdam / Death in Amsterdam | (1962) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Because of the Cats | (1963) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Gun Before Butter / A Question of Loyalty | (1963) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Double-Barrel | (1964) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Criminal Conversation | (1966) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The King of the Rainy Country | (1966) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Strike Out Where Not Applicable | (1967) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Tsing Boum | (1969) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Lovely Ladies / Over the High Side | (1971) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| A Long Silence / Auprès De Ma Blonde | (1972) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Widow | (1979) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| One Damn Thing After Another / Arlette | (1981) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Sand Castles | (1989) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
| Valparaiso | (1964) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Dresden Green | (1966) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| This is the Castle | (1968) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Gadget | (1977) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| A City Solitary | (1985) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| One More River | (1998) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Some Day Tomorrow | (2000) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Janeites | (2002) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books
| Kitchen Book | (1970) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Kitchen and the Cook | (1970) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Criminal Convictions | (1994) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Village Book | (2001) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
If You Like Nicolas Freeling Books, You’ll Love…
The King of the Rainy Country is the Edgar Award winning novel from Freeling. The book sees Van der Velk taking on a missing persons case. Van der Velk is visited by a mysterious stranger and is sent on a search all over Europe for an elusive businessman. The detective has trouble locating the man as he’s disappeared with a naked girl and proves to be rather elusive, but Van der Velk will find him and find out why he disappeared.
Freeling is also the author of Lake Isle which takes place in the French town of Soulay. In this one, Inspector Henri Castang is dealing with a brutal robbery, a drugged teeneger, and a violent death. The Inspector feels there may be a mysterious connection to recent events in Paris and the Inspector must untangle a mix of spiteful small-town gossip and big-city crime in order to solve the case, or cases.
