Investigating the disappearance of Oliver Cooper, Inspector Alvarez has just ruled out suicide when Cooper's decidedly dead body shows up in his own home with a smashed watch that may indicate his time of death and lead to his killer.

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It's not very surprising that art dealer Oliver Cooper disappears from his home on Mallorca shortly after mob-connected enforcer Ernest White turns up to demand $1,350,000 for two paintings that White's employer, who purchased them from Cooper, says are forgeries. What's surprising is that (1) Cooper soon turns up dead, and (2) so many of his associates, from a neighboring farmer who's been stealing his water supply to his beautiful, avaricious wife Rachael to Rachael's sturdy lover, wanted him dead. It's up to imperturbable Inspector Enrique Alvarez to smash the killer's broken-watch alibi before his short-fused superior blows a gasket. There's not much to Jeffries's 20th (An Arcadian Death, 1996, etc.) but Alvarez as a Mediterranean Columbo. And the corpse's stopped watch really ought to be retired, perhaps to sunny Mallorca. -- Copyright �1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

What more can one say about Inspector Alvarez, Jeffries' slow-moving, brandy-loving, and anything-but-slow-witted Mallorcan policeman? Perhaps only that this supremely appealing character has lost none of his charm--even with the series now 20 installments old. Jeffries' focus continues to be murder and mayhem among the English expatriates living in Mallorca, where tourists, foreign residents, and their money have brought dramatic changes to the Mediterranean isle that was once a rural, hardscrabble society. This time the plot involves a murdered British art dealer and his dubious dealings with the Mafia; his lovely, unfaithful wife and her lover; and a struggling artist who may (or may not) have been exploited by the dealer. Although the ending in this otherwise satisfying adventure is a bit weak, it scarcely matters. The inspector delivers all the pleasure a mystery fan could want. Readers would be wise to follow their hero's example, sip a brandy in the shade, and enjoy. Stuart Miller

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