The Fourth Figure

Nominated for the Hercule Poirot Award: Commissioner Pieter Van In must find the link between members of a satanic conspiracy and a young woman’s death

A young woman is found dead in the canal outside her Bruges apartment building. But what seems like a clear-cut suicide evolves into something much more complex when Commissioner Pieter Van In uncovers the girl’s involvement in a satanic sect. Who is the mysterious Venex, and why does he inspire such devotion from his disciples?

Complicating the investigation further, Van In’s boss allows beautiful journalist Saartje Maes to profile the case, sparking tension with the commissioner’s expectant wife, District Attorney Hannelore Martens. As a horrific tragedy shocks the city, Van In seems to be surrounded by secrets. And though exposing them will lead him to the truth, it will also pit him against the very police force to which he’s devoted his life.

A Belgian national bestseller, The Fourth Figure has been reprinted in Dutch seventeen times. It is the 4th book in the Pieter Van In Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
 

PIETER ASPE is the author of the Pieter Van In Mysteries. Aspe lives in Bruges, Belgium, and is one of the most popular contemporary writers in the Flemish language. His novels have sold over one million copies in Europe alone.

BRIAN DOYLE was born in Scotland in 1956 and is currently a professor at the University of Leuven in Belgium. In addition to teaching, he has translated a wide variety of books from Dutch and Flemish into English. In addition to the Pieter Van In Mysteries, his recent book projects include Jef Geeraerts’s The Public Prosecutor (2009), Jacqueline van Maarsen’s Inheriting Anne Frank (2010), Christiaan Weijts’s The Window Dresser (2009), Tessa de Loo’s The Book of Doubt (2011), Paul Glaser’s Dancing with the Enemy (2013), and Bob Van Laerhoven’s Baudelaire’s Revenge (2014). He also translates poetry and literary nonfiction.