After the Silence

Introducing Inspector Jaap Rykel in a crime debut that does for Amsterdam what Rankin did for Edinburgh

A murdered policeman, a dead businessman hanging from a hook, a building burnt to the ground in an arson attack and a missing girl - identity unknown.

It's up to damaged, world-weary Inspector Jaap Rykel of Amsterdam's finest to piece it all together. Alongside him he's got an inexperienced female detective wrestling with the ghosts of her past, and a Sergeant with a drugs habit. And then there's the internal affairs investigation . . .

A rich cast of characters, a sinewy, complex plot and a starring role for Amsterdam are the highlights of this brilliant debut police procedural.

Jake Woodhouse studied Music in London and Amsterdam, and then winemaking in New Zealand. He has worked as a musician, as a winemaker in Italy, and started a wine creation agency in the UK. But having done all this he was struck by a realisation - in order to fulfil his lifelong, barely acknowledged, desire to be a writer he would actually have to write a book. So he started to write. The result, apart from losing contact with all his friends, is After the Silence.