Albert Cornelis "Appie" Baantjer (16 September 1923 – 29 August 2010) was a Dutch author of

detective fiction Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as sp ...

and police officer. He is mainly known for his large series of detective novels revolving around police inspector De Cock (also translated as DeKok) and his side-kick, sergeant Vledder. The name of the protagonist simply means "cook" in Dutch, but has an unusual spelling which is at the heart of a

running gag A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling. Though they are similar, catchphrases are no ...

that involves De Cock spelling out his name every time he introduces himself to someone. The novels have spin-offs in the form of a motion picture and a long-running TV-series entitled ''

Baantjer ''Baantjer'' is a Dutch television programme which was broadcast by RTL 4 from 6 October 1995 until 1 December 2006 for a total of 123 episodes in 12 seasons. It stars Piet Römer as Jurriaan 'Jurre' de Cock, a police detective, and Victor Reinier ...

''. Both are named after the author, rather than the main character(s). This led to

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

Berend Boudewijn's bitter statement in a Dutch TV guide (''VPRO Gids'', 11 November 2005) that "''Baantjer'' is the only TV series in the world that is named after a writer, even though it is not written by him." (This is not entirely true: The Belgian TV series ''Aspe'' is also named after its writer, Pieter Aspe, who wrote the first season but not the second.) Baantjer's novels have made their way into the English language through the publishing house Speck Press. De Cock's name has been translated as DeKok. There are approximately 23 of the 60 published Baantjer titles available in English. His books have also been translated into Spanish, French, Russian and Korean and Estonian.http://ester.utlib.ee/search*est/a?SEARCH=baantjer&searchscope=1&SUBMIT=OTSI

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baantjer, A. C. 1923 births 2010 deaths People from Medemblik People from Urk Detectives and criminal investigators Dutch police officers Dutch crime fiction writers Dutch screenwriters Dutch male screenwriters Deaths from cancer in the Netherlands Deaths from esophageal cancer Writers from Amsterdam Dutch male novelists 20th-century Dutch novelists 21st-century Dutch novelists 20th-century Dutch male writers 21st-century Dutch male writers