Freeling was born in London, but travelled widely, and ended his life at his long-standing home at Grandfontaine to the west of Strasbourg. He had followed a variety of occupations, including the armed services and the catering profession. He began writing during a three-week prison sentence, after being convicted of stealing some food.

Freeling's The King of the Rainy Country received a 1967 Edgar Award, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Best Novel. He also won the Gold Dagger of the Crime Writers' Association, and France's Grand Prix de Littérature Policière.

In 1968 his novel Love in Amsterdam was adapted as the film Amsterdam Affair directed by Gerry O'Hara and starring Wolfgang Kieling as Van Der Valk.

Novels

Van de Valk series

• Love in Amsterdam (1962), aka Death in Amsterdam
• Because of the Cats (1963)
• Gun Before Butter (1963), aka Question of Loyalty
• Double-Barrel (1964)
• Criminal Conversation (1965)
• The King of the Rainy Country (1966)
• Strike Out Where Not Applicable (1967)
• Tsing-Boum! (1969)
• The Lovely Ladies (1971), aka Over the High Side
• A Long Silence (1972), aka Auprès de ma Blonde
• The Widow (1979)
• One Damn Thing After Another (1981), aka Arlette
• Sand Castles (1989)

Henri Castang series

• A Dressing of Diamonds (1974)
• What are the Bugles Blowing For? (1975), aka The Bugles Blowing
• Sabine (1976), aka Lake Isle
• The Night Lords (1978)
• Castang's City (1980)
• Wolfnight (1982)
• The Back of the North Wind (1983)
• No Part in Your Death (1984)
• Cold Iron (1986)
• Lady Macbeth (1988)
• Not as Far as Velma (1989)
• Those in Peril (1990)
• Flanders Sky (1992), aka The Pretty How Town
• " You Who Know"(1994)
• The Seacoast of Bohemia (1994)
• A Dwarf Kingdom (1996)

Other novels

• Valparaiso (1964)
• The Dresden Green (1966)
• This is the Castle (1968)
• Gadget (1977)
• A City Solitary (1984)
• One More River (1998)
• Some Day Tomorrow (1999)
• The Janeites (2002)

Non-fiction

• The Kitchen (1970)
• Cook Book (1972)
• Criminal Convictions (1994)
• The Village Book (2001)
• The Kitchen and the Cook (2002)