Janwillem van de Wetering

Born and raised in Amsterdam, Janwillem van de Wetering moved to South Africa when he was nineteen. After living and working there for six years he went to London, where he studied philosophy for a year. From London he went to Kyoto, Japan, and lived in a zen monastery for the next two years. His travels next took him to Peru and Colombia, where he got married and spent three years. From South America he went to Australia for a year and then returned to Amsterdam. He went into business and joined the Amsterdam Reserve Police force, where he swiftly rose through the ranks. Van de Wetering wrote numerous works of fiction and nonfiction, including fourteen novels in his acclaimed Grijpstra and de Gier series. Van de Wetering and his wife moved to Maine in the 1980s, where van de Wetering lived and wrote until his death in 2008.