Blue Notes

A world-famous Dutch violinist comes home to Amsterdam for a rare performance, and somebody starts sending him death threats. Then they go one better and smash his Stradivarius. Words you can shrug off; a couple of million francs of instrument in pieces is another matter.

Van der Valk's problem is that the whole business makes no sense. He can't fathom why anyone would want to hurt the man. Great artists collect enemies, but usually ones with a grudge you can put your finger on: money, jealousy, an old affair gone wrong. Here there's nothing, just a beloved virtuoso preparing for his concert while anonymous letters pile up. And that gap between what seems plausible and what is actually happening is where the episode does its work. The police have to treat the danger as real even when no motive will present itself, which means looking past the concert hall entirely, into Amsterdam itself and the secrets it keeps.

I like this shape for a detective story. The question isn't who did it but why at all, and until that's answered every suspect is standing in the wrong queue. It also lets the show do something quieter than a body in a canal: a city being asked what it holds against its most celebrated son.

Geoffrey Gilbert wrote it with Nicolas Freeling, and Marc Miller directed. Barry Foster leads as Van der Valk, with Michael Latimer as Kroon and Susan Travers as Arlette. Geoffrey Bayldon plays Joseph Kettner, with Hilary Heath as Nana Schneers, Edgar Wreford as Jan Servaas, Peter Pratt as Westermann, Dave Carter as Brigadier Stribos, Matthew Guinness as a barman and John Rees as Mulhauzen.

Threats rooted in artistry and reputation rather than greed or passion make for an unusual case, and the episode wears its strangeness lightly. A smashed fiddle turns out to say more than any corpse would.