An Enigmatic Disappearance (Inspector Alvarez Novel S.) - Hardcover

Jeffries, Roderic

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0002326639 ISBN 13: 9780002326636

Publisher: Collins Crime, 1998

Synopsis

‘A new whodunit featuring Mallorquin cop Enrique Alvarez is as welcome as a week in the sun’ Financial Times

Bevis Ogden was the beneficiary of a substantial life insurance policy when his first wife was killed in an accident. Which makes him the prime suspect when the body of wife number two is found at the bottom of a gorge.

Where British expatriates are concerned, however, things are rarely as straightforward as they seem. For a start, there is a strong possibility that the two Mrs Ogdens were in fact one and the same woman – or at least, that is the startling theory put to Alvarez by an insurance investigator who believes that his company have been the victim of an elaborate scam perpetrated by Bevis and Belinda/Sabrina Ogden.

There is no doubt that Mrs Ogden is dead this time around, but was the murderer her husband, or her lover, Rino Rodolfo – a gigolo who enjoys a lucrative life with a much older, and very wealthy, Englishwoman? Alvarez thinks he knows the answer, but proving his theory is another matter.

About this title

Review:

‘Jeffries wields a racy, complex plot, holding back a nifty terminal shock’
Sunday Times

‘High marks for detection, urbanity and narrative drive’
Irish Times

‘The Mallorquin background is touched in with knowledge and affection; and Alvarez is a sympathetic and pleasant companion’
TLS

From the Back Cover:

Inspector Alvarez likes a quiet life, away from the disapproving gaze of his boss, Superior Chief Salas, and the antics of Mallorca's expatriate community. So he is not inclined to become too involved when Ogden Bevis, a wealthy British man, reports the disappearance of his attractive young wife. She has plainly found a younger, possibly wealthier, alternative and left for pastures new.

However, the discovery of a body at the bottom of a gorge changes his attitude dramatically. The husband is distraught, but is this just an act? Rumours abound over Sabrina's lifestyle: she had lovers, she lived beyond their means; and then Bevis had already lost an earlier wife in a tragic accident. But there are others in the frame: the young gigolo who, dependent on a wealthy older woman, may have had an illicit affair with Sabrina; or the cynical and bitter friend whose advances she may have rejected. The investigation is to become even more complicated when the spectre of an insurance fraud is raised.

Alvarez thinks he knows the answer, but proving his theory is another matter. Funnier and fresher than ever, 'An Enigmatic Disappearance' is the latest novel in Roderic Jeffrie's very popular series featuring the much-loved Inspector Alvarez.

Praise for Roderic Jeffries

'A Maze of Murders'
"Alvarez is an attractive character and Jeffries a beguiling storyteller"
MORNING STAR

'An Artistic Way to Go'
"As enjoyable for the setting as the solving, the plot is expounded with an engaging lightness of touch"
FINANCIAL TIMES

'Death Takes Time'
"Jeffries wields a racy, complex plot, holding back a nifty terminal shock"
SUNDAY TIMES

'Too Clever by Half'
"Roderic Jeffries' Inspector Alvarez continues to patrol his Balearic beat in his engaging and exasperated way"
BRITISH BOOK NEWS

About this edition

• Publisher: Collins Crime
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0002326639
• ISBN 13: 9780002326636
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176