Avid Series Reader's Reviews > The Japanese Corpse

The Japanese Corpse by Janwillem van der Wetering is book 5 of the Amsterdam Cops series, set in late 20-century Japan. Grijpstra and de Gier are a team of Amsterdam detectives that are quite dissimilar in personality, yet work together remarkably well to solve crimes. Grijpstra and de Gier do not work together in this book; Grijpstra has a minor (forgettable) role, while de Gier works with their boss, the commissaris, who is not usually involved directly in their investigations.

In Amsterdam, a Japanese waitress reports to the police that her boyfriend, a Japanese art dealer, is missing. Amsterdam police are reluctant at first to investigate what may be a case of a man losing interest in a woman; but then they discover he has been murdered. Questioning the waitress reveals she and the victim had ties to the powerful Japanese gangster mob, called yakuza.

To catch international art thieves, de Gier and the commissaris travel to Japan. They are "bait", posing as rare art buyers, waiting for the yakuza to make contact and sell them stolen art. The art comes from monasteries, so they base their efforts in Kyoto.

The commissaris becomes much less interested in solving a murder or art theft as in learning the history of Japanese religion, art, and crime; he comes to admire and respect the leader of the yakuza. Meanwhile de Gier is in a zombie-like uncaring state, having lost his beloved cat (and his girlfriend) in a terrorist attack, shortly before leaving Amsterdam for Japan.