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Richard Klinkhamer (; 15 March 1937 – January 2016) was a Dutch writer of
The lying Dutchman: how a crime writer confessed to his wife's murder
, ''
In 1991 Klinkhamer's wife, Hannelore (née Godfrinon), went missing from their home in Hongerige Wolf. A year later Klinkhamer went to his publisher with the manuscript for ''Woensdag Gehaktdag'' (), which detailed seven ways in which he could have killed his wife. One scenario had him disposing of her body by pushing her flesh through a mincer, then feeding it to the pigeons. The manuscript was rejected by his publisher, Willem Donker, as being "too gruesome".Will Woodward,
The lying Dutchman: how a crime writer confessed to his wife's murder
, ''Schrijver en moordenaar van zijn vrouw Richard Klinkhamer (78) overleden
(in Dutch), ''
An article by Laura Martz about Klinkhamer and his work on Salon.com
1937 births 2016 deaths 20th-century Dutch criminals 20th-century Dutch novelists 20th-century Dutch male writers 21st-century Dutch criminals 21st-century Dutch novelists 21st-century Dutch male writers Dutch male novelists Dutch people convicted of manslaughter Prisoners and detainees of the Netherlands Writers from Amsterdam Scandals in the Netherlands Controversies in the Netherlands Literature controversies {{Netherlands-writer-stub
crime fiction
Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...
Will Woodward,The lying Dutchman: how a crime writer confessed to his wife's murder
, ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', 2000. who killed his wife in 1991 and went on to write a book about how he could have committed the crime. In 2000, he was sentenced to seven years in prison for manslaughter
Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...
after killing his wife and hiding her body.
Murder conviction
In 1991 Klinkhamer's wife, Hannelore (née Godfrinon), went missing from their home in Hongerige Wolf. A year later Klinkhamer went to his publisher with the manuscript for ''Woensdag Gehaktdag'' (), which detailed seven ways in which he could have killed his wife. One scenario had him disposing of her body by pushing her flesh through a mincer, then feeding it to the pigeons. The manuscript was rejected by his publisher, Willem Donker, as being "too gruesome".Will Woodward,The lying Dutchman: how a crime writer confessed to his wife's murder
, ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', 2000. Klinkhamer became the primary suspect in the police investigation for the disappearance of Hannelore: he was questioned several times and detained once. Nevertheless, the investigation yielded no concrete evidence against the writer.
In 1997 Klinkhamer sold the residence he had shared with his wife and moved to Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
with a new girlfriend. Details of Klinkhamer's manuscript began to surface in the Dutch underground press, allowing him to become a minor celebrity and participate to the literary party circuit.
In 2000, the new occupants of Klinkhamer's former home started renovation on the garden, and work crews discovered the skeletal remains of his wife in clay beneath a concrete floor in the garden shed. Shortly thereafter he was arrested and charged with his wife's murder, to which he confessed. In 2001 Klinkhamer was sentenced to seven years in prison. He was released from prison in 2003 for good behavior. Klinkhamer died in January 2016, aged 78.(in Dutch), ''
de Volkskrant
''De Volkskrant'' (; ), stylized as de Volkskrant, is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000.
Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium- ...
'', 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
Bibliography
* (1983) ''Gehoorzaam als een hond'' * (1983) ''De hotelrat en andere verhalen'' * (1993) ''Losgeld'' * (1996) ''Kruis of munt'' * (2007) ''Woensdag Gehaktdag''References
Further reading
* Meijer, Martijn (2004) ''Klinkhamer: een leven tussen woord en moord''See also
* If I Did It: Confessions of the KillerExternal links
An article by Laura Martz about Klinkhamer and his work on Salon.com
1937 births 2016 deaths 20th-century Dutch criminals 20th-century Dutch novelists 20th-century Dutch male writers 21st-century Dutch criminals 21st-century Dutch novelists 21st-century Dutch male writers Dutch male novelists Dutch people convicted of manslaughter Prisoners and detainees of the Netherlands Writers from Amsterdam Scandals in the Netherlands Controversies in the Netherlands Literature controversies {{Netherlands-writer-stub