DEKOK AND MURDER IN SEANCE

``JANE DIES,'' warns the Ouija board at blind Jennifer Jordan's latest sÇance, and minutes later, sÇance regular Black Julie, nÇe Jane Truffle, complies. Which of the other regulars poisoned her, and why? Amsterdam's imperturbable Inspector DeKok (DeKok and the Brothers of the Easy Death, 1995, etc.) doesn't believe that spirits killed Jane, or that Jennifer's nephew Harry Donkers, arrested on his boss's orders, did either. And two other murders of the sÇance faithful, who go to their graves swapping accusations about long-hidden crimes, bear him out. The solution, though, is less ingenious than usual in this clever, depthless series. In a rare moment of reflection, DeKok thinks he's ``too complicated a personality for his own good.'' Wrong. His adventures read like Maigret's cases without Maigret.