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Maan Meyers: The Saga of the Dutchman Frank A. Salamone Historical detective fiction is an important sub-category of historical fiction in general. As such, it should be judged by the same criteria applied to historical fiction; namely, that a certain verisimilitude is present. All the events depicted may not have actually happened but the reader should believe that they could have happened. Moreover, when real events are mingled with fictional ones, that mixing must appear to be natural. Additionally, real historical characters must act in accordance with their distinguishing characteristics and in conformity with what we know about them. Martin and Annette Meyers, authors of the Dutchman detective series, know and adhere to these standards. Their careful adaptation of their novels to the demands of the historical genre has made them a model of historical detective writing (Klausner 1). Pieter Tonneman is the schaut, or sheriff, of New Amsterdam (The Dutchman, 1992). His wife has died, and he has become a drunk, although one who can still perform his work. While sleeping off a drunk, he witnesses a murder but is not sure whether he has dreamed all or part of what he remembers of the scene. The murder, moreover, is even more painful to Tonneman because it reminds him of the suicide of his friend Smitt six months earlier, a suicide that is part of New Amsterdam history. The "suicide " in truth is a murder that was initially mislabeled a suicide. Tonneman is unwilling to accept that verdict and becomes more convinced that it is a murder when he becomes involved with a Jewish woman whose husband is missing. A fire in Jews Alley provides the occasion for their meeting. The woman, Racqel, is the daughter of a doctor, and she is proficient in medical arts. These personal events are tied to the very real threat of invasion by the British fleet. Pieter Stuyvesant stubbornly holds out against compromise or surrender while the population generally desires peace and prosperity. The English promise to deal equitably with the colony, leaving Dutch law in effect for many daily transactions and not disturbing property rights. They even leave Dutch officials in office. The two stories are joined, emphasizing the manner in which the personal and the public are linked. The imminent British invasion is the trigger for the murders that ensue. Personal ambitions, stemming from the characters of the actors, drive the action in Aristotelian fashion. Personal goodness 169 170 The Detective as Historian and decency, similarly, also emerge in the appropriate setting. Thus, Tonneman gives up drinking and becomes a sober and solid citizen. His ability to overcome the prevailing anti-Semitism of the era is another example of the manner in which character and setting interact. Tonneman begins the novel with a mild dose of anti-Semitism in that he shares many of the Dutch prejudices against the small Jewish settlement in New Amsterdam. These feelings are not deeply held and are more reflexive than conscious. They do not, for example, prevent him from fighting the fire in Jews Alley nor in rescuing those at risk. Neither do they prevent him from aiding in solving other problems faced by Jews nor from marrying Racqel and, later in the series, converting to Judaism (Dutchman ~ Dilemma 1996). The Meyers planned The Dutchman to stand alone. The series, however , emerged from economic considerations. Even before the completion of The Dutchman, the Meyers were offered a three-book contract, on the basis of a synopsis and two hundred pages of manuscript. However, they quickly added artistic conditions. They would do the three books but move about in time. They would not confine themselves to the same village with its limited cast of characters. That would lead, they feared, to an earlier version of Jessica Fletcher's Cabot Cove. They would imagine descendents of the Dutchman and move them about in different eras in New York's history. In that manner, they could tell the history of New York in a personalized fashion, mixing real and fictional people together. Their model for this technique is the work of Jack Finney, although other authors such as E. L. Doctorow also come to mind (Interview 1998). The technique allows for a change in style from book to book since one of their major tenets is not to use any words that were not in use during the period under depiction. Their model was Ruth Hill's book on the Lakota, Ranta Yo (1979), that was written...

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