(article published in the journal " Septentrion ", arts, literature and culture of Flanders and the Netherlands, Flemish-Dutch magazine, No. 3, 2010
Pierre Aspeslag real name, born in 1953, was nicknamed the "Flemish Simenon" by some. As the author from Liège, Belgium Aspe and investigations of his "Maigret" Flemish Pieter Van In the Commissioner, take place them in old Bruges and its surroundings. In 1993, after practicing a number of odd jobs, Aspe is a janitor at the Chapel of Holy Blood in Bruges, where he throws the paper the first words of the "Square of vengeance" - the first survey Commissioner Van In - which will be published in 1995 by Editions Coat Antwerp. In 2001, he finally receives the "Award Hercule Poirot "for" Zoenoffer ("propitiation"). Aspe is now in its 24th investigation and if he knows a success and a certain notoriety among the Dutch, it is also a name in French since 2008 thanks to Editions Albin Michel and his translators Emmanuele Sandron and Marie Belina Podgaetsky. I bet that his career is still in its French debut ...
Currently, the Parisian publisher has released the first five investigations by Commissioner Van In in his "Yellow Square": "The square of revenge" (2008), "Chaos Bruges" (2008), "The Masks of the Night" (2009), "The fourth form of Satan" (2009) "The gun collector" (2009) "Of Royal Blood (2010 ). Effect "series" and the publication in recent months, the first volumes in paperback guarantee a constant presence in print by Pieter Aspe, to the delight of his readers, more and more, both in Belgium and France.
The main character, the Commissioner in Van, a cop is a bit gruff, messy, stubborn, sarcastic and caustic, atypical, disillusioned, inveterate smoker and drinker Duvel to rinse his professional disappointments and private strangled by debt but capable of friendship, humor and tenderness ... Briefly, a colorful character and not always politically correct, which can sometimes frustrate the player when it launches at every turn his favorite expletive "Benson im Himmel" (explanation given in "Chaos Bruges, p.225) - fortunately damn this curse will increasingly rare over the investigations. But Van In is not alone: he can count on his loyal partner, friend and accomplice Versavel, a shrewd and cultivated gay cop who knows his morale and especially "Madame Crown "of the prosecutor Hannelore Martens, Einstein's brain in a body manikin. Hannelore is also the friend, lover, companion and Pieter the mother of his twins. Through stories, Van In becoming more sympathetic and human to the point where we end up actually attach to the character.
Through surveys Van In not always easy to understand - we are in Belgium - the mess we find the workings of the administration, political shenanigans and financial collusion in the "high" corruption ... but also drugs, ballet pink, prostitution, brothels for VIP Satanism, and crooked politicians ripoux, arms trafficking, money laundering, the Russian mafia, vandalism ... so many ingredients that make up the sauce.
Not really innovative style thriller, Aspe nevertheless allows us to enter his world through his art of dialogue, his characters well-typed, with its quirky humor and the subtle blend of professional and private life, in Bruges where the French found their belgitude and French exoticism so close ... In van Aspe is what Donna Leon Brunetti is, Adamsberg Vargas, to Mankell Wallander, John Rebus Rankin, Flea Marley Hayder ... what Maigret Simenon ... Briefly, the cops who earn our sympathy because they are human!
To conclude, I can not help but quote this player happiness. In the third volume of the Arcamonde: "Heart of Glory" by Hervé Picart (Ed. Beaver astral), the antiquary Frans Bogaert, main character of the investigations, meeting by chance ... Commissioner Van In the terrace of the Keizer Karel in his drinking Duvel Frans while sipping a Westmaele in the company of a beautiful woman. There is even the "Benson in Himmel!". (P.97, 98) Consecration! JL Leonard
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