Secrets are heavy. And their weight threatens to sink those who hold them. Always dressed in all black, hair slicked back and dramatic black eyeliner drawing attention to her large eyes, Inez Weski looks more like the lead singer of a 1980s rock band than what she is: the most famous lawyer in the Netherlands. Last week, she was convicted of facilitating her former client’s vast, violent criminal network, refusing until the very end to divulge any secrets of his or hers that

To understand a culture, study those who break its rules. The crime genre isn’t just entertainment; it’s a mirror, reflecting politics, society, technology and human relationships. If you love Luther, Roberto Saviano’s books and his film and TV series Gomorrah, Jo Nesbø, Ian Rankin, Åsa Larsson and Patricia Highsmith, then you’re in the right place. Think of this newsletter as your curated travelogue through Europe, told through the lens of crime storytelling. Each month, tog

The Netherlands is a narco state. That was the shocking conclusion Amsterdam’s mayor, Femke Halsema, made in an opinion piece in The Guardian last year: “The illegal drugs trade [in the Netherlands] has become more lucrative, professional and ruthlessly violent. The effects have been disastrous. In the past decade, the port of Rotterdam—the largest in Europe—has become a global transit hub for cocaine.” Amsterdam’s image as an anything-goes financial powerhouse hides a darker

Black British Crime Stories - an introduction Modern Black British noir has its roots in post-war Britain. After the war, citizens from Caribbean Commonwealth countries emigrated to the United Kingdom to help rebuild the nation. The moment is symbolised by the arrival of the MV Empire Windrush, which docked in England carrying passengers from Jamaica and other Caribbean islands. Those migrants—and the generations that followed—became known as the Windrush Generation Though le

A woman who took on the mafia, paid with her life and won This week I’m writing about a murder that happened in my southern Italian city — and the woman who died fighting the mafia to protect a park I walk through every week. Walking along the cliffs of the Ionian coasts, past centuries-old watch towers, climbing over rocks wet from sea spray, stopping to swim in the clear, blue-green water, you’d probably miss a small red tribute bench on one of the trails. It’s there to com