Book excerpt: Four gripping police procedurals set in Bruges, starring “a brusque cop with every bad habit you can think of” (Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review). Featuring the bad-tempered, libidinous, alcoholic but skilled police investigator Deputy Commissioner Pieter Van In, these four gritty crime novels from a #1 international bestselling author reveal the darker side of the beautiful Belgian city of Bruges. The Square of Revenge: The perpetrators who broke into an elite jewelry store in Bruges stole nothing, but dissolved a fortune in priceless gems in jars of powerful acid—a perplexing crime that entangles Deputy Commissioner Pieter Van In and his beautiful colleague, assistant district attorney Hannelore Martens, in a wealthy family’s darkest, deadliest secrets. The Midas Murders: Two suspicious deaths and an explosion at a popular tourist site lead Van In and Martens into the heart of a terrorist nightmare that could leave their beloved Bruges in ruins. From Bruges with Love: The discovery of a thirty-year-old skeleton during the restoration of a farmhouse pits Van In against high-level Belgian officials determined to prevent the detective from digging too deeply into the house’s sordid and terrible past. The Fourth Figure: In this novel, nominated for a Hercule Poirot Award, Deputy Commissioner Van In’s investigation of a young woman’s bizarre death is a prelude to a massacre, and it places him in the rifle sights of a sinister satanic cult. In the vein of Georges Simenon’s Inspector Maigret, “Aspe’s writing is crisp and his characters memorable” (Booklist).