No Sale

In this engrossing mystery set in 1998 from Belgian author Conrad (Limousine), Antwerp Chief Supt. Fons Luyckx, known as the Sponge for his retention of information, looks into the murder of a woman fished out of the water at the city’s Bonaparte Dock. The authorities soon identify the battered body as that of Shelley Cox, the missing wife of film historian Victor Cox. The less than distraught widower, who regarded the alcoholic Shelley as having been figuratively dead for years, naturally becomes the prime suspect. Things only get worse for him after his wife’s murder proves to be one of a series inspired by movies such as The Big Heat and Psycho, and he’s found to have known several of the victims. The sardonic Sponge, who moves things along nicely, could easily sustain a series. This book won the Diamond Bullet Award for the best crime novel in Dutch in 2007. (Aug.)