Arlette Van der Valk finds herself widowed from a man who left an indelible mark on the world of crime investigation. After her initial grief, Arlette is at a loose end - Piet was her life, but Van der Valk soon finds that making decisions help ease the pain. After remarrying, she sets up an advisory agency but things don't always run smoothly as this ingenious story shows. Not only dealing with her clients' problems, Arlette must also deal with threats to her life.

Nicolas Freeling (March 3, 1927 ? July 20, 2003), was a British crime novelist, best known as the author of the van der Valk series of detective novels. Freeling?s The King of the Rainy Country received a 1967 Edgar Award, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Best Novel. He also won the Gold Dagger of the Crime Writers? Association, and France?s Grand Prix de Litt?rature Polici?re. 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.