Synopsis
Inspector Enrique Alvarez is charged with finding a connection among an old love letter with a coded message, the recent death of a village simpleton, and a long-dead army officer.
Reviews
In this adroit addition to Jeffries's stylish series ( Too Clever by Half ), Inspector Enrique Alvarez of the Cuerpo General de Policia, Mallorca, Spain, is suspicious of wealthy (and obnoxious) immigrant Giovanni Gaspari, who first reports a life-threatening burglary, and then withdraws his complaint when the police arrive. Against the express orders of his boss, Alvarez follows a hunch that the foreigner is involved in the killing of the village idiot. But before the inspector can confirm his suspicions, Gaspari is murdered. Alvarez is nearly the third victim when he discovers that the chief suspect, a visiting Englishman, is being framed with a 50-year-old love letter with a coded reference to the slaughter of hundreds of soldiers during WW II. Despite his incompetent superiors, the inspector devises a scheme to set up the murderer himself. Jeffries's disarming Alvarez continues to solve substantial mysteries with panache and charm.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Past and present meet with dire results on the island of Mallorca when English sculptor Steven Armitage tries to find out the truth about his father's death 50 years ago. A long-hidden letter of that time to Armitage's now-deceased mother casts doubt on the place and manner of his father's supposedly heroic death in WW II. All this is uncovered by Inspector Enrique Alvarez (Too Clever By Half, etc., etc.) as he investigates the possibly accidental death of simple-minded old Pedro, a village character and one of the scant leads Armitage was exploring. An attempted break-in at the home of Italian expatriate Giovanni Gaspari also seems to connect to Armitage, but the Inspector's work on both cases is summarily ended by higher authority, much to his bewilderment. Only after a verifiable murder and an attempt on his own life is Alvarez permitted to doggedly piece together the mosaic of political history, greed, and cunning that provides the answer to Armitage's search. The Inspector at his most charming, determined, and intuitive. Jeffries, ever a reliable source of affable entertainment, is in top form here. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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