Detective novelist dies in Ellsworth

Jan Willem van de Wetering, author of more than 30 works of fiction and nonfiction, died Friday, July 4, in Ellsworth. He was born Feb. 12, 1931, in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and had lived in Hancock County since 1975.

Van de Wetering wrote the popular “Grijpstra and de Gier” series of detective novels, which was very popular in his native country. Set mostly in Amsterdam, the intricately plotted, richly detailed books tell the story of a pair of Dutch policemen, and drew from Van de Wetering’s own experiences as a police officer. One of the books, “Het Werkbezoek” (“The Working Visit,” published as “The Maine Massacre” in the United States), took place in Maine, featuring Grijpstra and de Gier solving a series of murders against the backdrop of the Maine woods.

In 1984, he was awarded the International Grand Prix de Litterateur Policiere, France’s highest honor for writers of mysteries and detective fiction. Other honorees include Tony Hillerman, Elizabeth George and Mary Higgins Clark.

Though he was known primarily as a writer of crime fiction, he also wrote three children’s books set in Surry, featuring Hugh Pine, a lovable porcupine who teams up with some humans to rescue his fellow rodents from the perils of crossing the highway.

He also wrote essays, short stories, penned a graphic detective novel with DC Comics illustrator Paul Kirchner titled “Murder by Remote Control,” and translated Kenneth Grahame’s “The Wind in the Willows” into Dutch.

Before settling in Maine, Van de Wetering spent many years traveling the world, living in South Africa, England, Colombia, Peru, Australia and Japan.

He also spent eight years in the 1980s sailing around the world with his wife in an old lobster boat, eventually reaching Papua, New Guinea, before returning home to Surry. In addition to writing, he was a sculptor and painter who created large, surreal sculptures out of found objects.

While he was in Japan, Van de Wetering spent two years studying Buddhism in a monastery in Kyoto. Buddhism became a way of life for the author, and he wrote three memoir pieces about his years of meditating and studying, including 1975’s “A Glimpse of Nothingness: Experiences in an American Zen Community.” The book details his time spent at the Moon Spring Hermitage in Surry, now known as the Morgan Bay Zendo.

The New York Times Book Review said of “A Glimpse of Nothingness,” “[It] is a book that deserves serious attention … eminently readable, easy to relate to on several different levels, and a fascinating and encouraging tale of human communal endeavor.”