Fri, Jun 2, 2006
Student Debbie Wostyn (20), who was elected to play the Holy Virgin in Bruges's high-profile Holy Blood Procession, is found naked and murdered by strangulation in tycoon Armand Desmedt's Zeebruges penthouse, for Van In obviously a call-girl at work but Armand has neither motive nor alibi and denies any knowledge of Debbie, whose devout parents Theo, accountant in a Desmedt firm, and Gaby who feels stifled, seem to ignore her nocturnal business, however she was six weeks pregnant. Meanwhile commissioner Dekee insists all external communication must henceforth go trough him and Pieter's bride Hannelore has chosen a wedding date and invited her parents. Desmedt's business empire seems squeaky clean, he's married with society lady Diane and has two children. Debbie's college friend Lies claims she hid her one and only true boy-friend because of her old-fashioned parents. Next Diane is found suicided by hanging in St. Gillis parish church, where Theo is verger. Van In thinks Armand sired Debbie, he replies Diane was the adulterer, but her lover was also Debbie's- St.Gilles's popular parish priest Raf Bastiaens, which he confesses, not the murder nor asking her to commit abortion, and he does have an alibi; only Diane's protégé, procession director Adriaan, knew about the celibacy violations...
Fri, Jun 9, 2006
Ice skater Virginie Patou is found killed with a skate-wound on the head in the hall where she was training late for an international competition which owner Lodewijk Verdonck, a cousin of commissioner De Kee, managed to host in Bruges for the first time. Neels incurs a double leg fracture while rudely denying access to Virginie's fiancé Andreas Duthoo, who wanted to ride in the ambulance but is stopped for an interview by Van In and tells they were about to marry. Andreas is a former champion himself, who has a career-killing accident, became Virginie's private coach and lives with his devoted mother in a grand mansion. Virginie had consensual sex shortly before her death, but DNA shows it was with Willem Lindemans, the notorious coach of haughty Dutch champion Sylvia Arnold. Yet after Willem's arrest, Van In focuses on another... Meanwhile Van In tells only to Guido he's legally still not divorced from his ex Ann, while Hannelore is planning a fancy wedding...
Fri, Jun 16, 2006
Jeanine, the wife of Kamiel Persijn, is found dead, hanging by the feet bare-butt, after drowning in the Bruges canal system which is the scene of prestigious touristic boat tours for which the competing Persijn, Goeminne and Yperman family firms rival, aiming at mergers and/or a take-over of all three by a Dutch consortium. Van In soon finds members of the three families lie about meeting and motives to support or oppose the Dutch deal, for which CEO Arie Stolk had visited the Goeminne home, and a secret affair... Meanwhile Pieter is running out of time to get divorced now Hannelore has set a date for their legal marriage, so he hounds Guido to track her down...
Fri, Jun 23, 2006
In the night of the annual police ball, a nightmare for Pieter Van In, a tango feast for his younger, impatient bride-to-be magistrate Hannelore, wealthy antiques dealer Felix Vermandere is found dead in his grand home, stabbed in the chest with a knife while reading in a comfy chair by the fireplace, by his daughter in law, Yvette, who has her own house key. She claims it must have been Nine Schwartz, his thirty year younger francophone wife since six months, who must be expecting a hefty inheritance. According to Yvette, Felix urgently expected her that night, in her mind to talk about gold-digger Nine. Van In instantly mistrusts Yvette...
Fri, Jun 30, 2006
Denise Vercruyft falls to her death from the roof of her fancy boarding school where her father, wealthy former hotel magnate Gaston, is on the board. XTC is found on her, she probably sneaked out to see her boyfriend, DJ and diplomat brat Didier Verbeeck. While trying to meet his would be-ex An and get officially divorced without Hannellore finding out, Van In finds Denise's tooth on the roof: she was murdered. Actually Didier was her ex since months, but proof is found he also supplied her with XTC, which she sold on to to other pupils and even school drugs coordinator Maarten Wellens, an ex-junkie. Denise's poor room-mate Tania Janssens admits her tuition was paid by Gaston to keep an eye on Denise, who took ma Julia's side in their nasty divorce and even lied to be sexually abused and stalked by pa. Then another crime is set in motion, but Van In returns to the school itself...
Mon, Oct 9, 2006
Wealthy construction contractor Baardemaker is buried alive in one of his building sites' concrete- foundation. Van In, who still hasn't found the courage to tell bride Hannelore he's still legally married, seeks distraction in the case, also after being charged for suspect abuse by socialite pimp Stany Joengbloed, whom he roughed up needlessly during interrogation. The victim's business partner checks out, but a foreman ties the case into an old murder case, where commissioner De Kee obtained a conviction after undue suspect coercion. That can also relate to another murder, on a retired judge, found at home starved in a cage.
Fri, Jul 14, 2006
Trucker M. Van Hees is found in fisherman's nets, his boss fired him only two weeks ago for secretly smuggling unspecified stuff for dodgy competitor Robert Janssens -who denies- on his Russia travels. Vladimir Petrov, in hospital badly beaten, demands police protection but can't or won't say against whom exactly; Van In gets André Bruynooghe to guard his sick-bed, but during a short absence an intruder nearly smothers him. The commissioner insists the detectives work on city hall's priority, purse-snatching in the main square, so Guido suggests they round up suspected destitute East European squatters, indeed holding stolen purses; the only one who masters English tells about a dirty business of smuggling illegals, promised passage to England by truck -Van Hees was a humane driver- but dumped near Bruges. Finally the trace of a website called Munus found on the corps leads, after laborious ICt work, to an illegal fist fight club...
Fri, Jul 21, 2006
During the press presentation of a dolphin research project at the Bruges dolphins theme park Boudewijnpark, the high-profile super-rich American sponsor Barry O'Reilly collapses, dead from coagulantia- rat poison caused internal bleedings with a delay up to three days. Van In is trying to become a more humane colleague and family man, which everybody finds scarily out of character, and makes him professionally lazy but grumpy and eager to arrest suspects, starting with the park's director Willy Wuyts, who was against selling the dolphins to have the research transferred to Stanford; next contractor Pierre Declercq, who sues the park for suspending the order for a new dolphin research pavilion, and admits having threatened research chief professor Van Buiten, who later saw a man leaving the victim's hotel room by fire-escape, and driving his car off the road while he drove Barry from the airport. Guido takes more initiative then usual, collaborating closely and discretely with Hannelore, briefing her on present case and Pieter's marital past. The commissioner was on the park's board, but still not informed about its crucial plan, nor dolphin handler Jan Overlaet, even checking on the millionaire's visit and donation to the local school turns out inspiring....
Fri, Jul 28, 2006
Jan Somers, the newly recruited star player of Bruges's internationally renowned soccer club's youth team, bleeds to death after a nightly hit and run while he cycled home after his former also local club Cercle Brugge's annual party. However Jan's transfer to the premier league, international Club Brugge clearly stirred a lot of frustration providing such motive as jealousy. Manager Anatole Kuypers was passed over, but claims he wasn't against for the money because moving too soon often break a promising boy's career. Motor cop John Blanckers's son Piet lost the captain's spot when Jan arrived at Cercle. Teammate Kurt Wouters fights with him for lacking respect for Jan's memory. The case despairs Van In, who is no good at untangling teenage love troubles, while every other lead runs blind, but Guido's 'gay radar' proves priceless...
Fri, Aug 4, 2006
Father Joris Brugmans, wife Linda Verhaegen, their son Tim and daughter Sarah are found poisoned at the dinner table by cyanide-based insecticide in the pasta sauce. They were known to have conflicts with several neighbors, such as Henriette Dubois who suspected one of her beloved cats to be poisoned by Linda, but close with the neighboring family of Linda's brother Thijs Fimmers, Joris's close colleague. However an announced restructuring in the multinational firm could see Thijs sacked, Joris promoted...
Mon, Nov 13, 2006
While Guido is absentminded now his gay mate Frank is away for a week to an archeology convention, a girl is found murdered during 'work' as a prostitute; she's identified as Nathalie Berghs, already reported missing by the wayward girls institute in a former Bruges convent, where another girl is soon strangled, Katrien Geerts, again with a mysterious note 'Euridice', a character from the Ancient Greek Orpheus myth. Meanwhile the precinct must share its premises with a Europol branch headed by Van In's old friend Eric Desmet, who investigates a port contraband case with his Dutch deputy Freek Keyzer, whom Van In soon mistrusts as the only realistic suspect for tipping off drug traffics so a bust the Bruges cops participate in goes wrong, and indeed Keyzer informs an accomplice about the 'Euridice killings'.
Mon, Nov 20, 2006
At the victim's funeral, van In's Interpol pal Erik Desmet, who admits he's cheating on his wife Sofie with a younger girl, fails to snipe. Witness Chris Wouters, the assumed target, is taken in protection, against Guido's grain at his home now Frank is away, yet the gay gentleman soon turns the ill-mannered tomcat minx into a more amenable, feminine protégé, who even makes a pointless pass at him. Van In guesses Erik's rude Dutch deputy Freek Keyzer's password and prints an e-mail to him, apparently about the next cocaine shipment arriving on the Buenaventura. The bust fails again, to both's and Justice's frustration. The wayward girls' pimp Jacky convinces Van In of his innocence of their murder: both investigations seem stuck, till he manages to link them.