Roderic JeffriesCritiques

A pleasant enough police procedural centering on the eventual kidnapping of an Arab monarchs son.½

9788470024658

This police procedural set in Great Britain just dragged at first, with different DI'sand DC's jockeying for status and complaining about the system. Inspectors putting the screws on informants and suspects and tarts. It was short enough that I pushed my way through to the solution. Not especially interesting, tho I did learn quite a few British colloquialsims, so it's getting thinned out of our small library to make room for something more appealing.½

Revista Tiempo

Detective Sergeant Rusk is instructed to question known sex offences in the area when a body of a young women is discovered. He finds that he knows one of the names of the list, someone he knew from school - J E R Kremayne.
Then a second female is found with the same m.o.
Liked the plot twist, an interesting mystery.
(First published in 1962)
A NetGalley Book

Three seaman drowned, one in each of the last three months. D.I. Fusil is suspicious but there is no evidence. He sends D.C. Kerr to investigate. But what will the investigation lead to.
An entertaining story
Originally published in 1968

Laura Selby burnt to death in a fire in her home. A man beaten up and hospitalized. D.I. Fusil of Fortrow C.I.D. wonders if they are suspicious and with a connection to each other.
An entertaining crime story

Always pleasant not often exciting. A quite good "cozy' series.

Another British writer who has picked up and moved to Spain to write Spanish murder mysteries. Is there room for me? A fun read that nearly had me rushing down to the liquor store to pick up some cognac. I don’t read a ton of mysteries and therefore did not see the twist coming, but I suspect anyone who reads mysteries more than I do probably would have seen it coming a mile away. But never mind, poor Inspector Alvarez is so beleaguered, yet so much fun, it doesn’t matter.

Early Alvarez as he keeps pondering what the connection might be in the three purported accidental deaths of English guests on his island. Distraction from a lissome redhead from New Zealand but he putters on, frustrating his Superior Chief, to sort it out the confusing finale. A good entry in this fun series.½

Inspector Alvarez continues to make life interesting for the " superior Chief". His Quixotic solution is delightfully Mallorquin and does preserve a precious commodity, fertile land.½

This book frustrated me quite a bit. It has a great skeleton in that the framework for an interesting plot is here, there are some complex characters with intriguing motivations, a relatively good pace and it all accumulates to create the perfect conclusion for this story.

However….

The writing isn’t very good, it becomes predictable making it hard to retain interest, you’re able to figure out the murderer fairly quickly in the first part of the book, the dialogue sounds stilted and almost childlike, page and story breaks aren’t very well delineated so sometimes it gets confusing as completely different plot points just run into each other and even though the conclusion is good for the story line it ends abruptly.

I felt this had so much potential but ultimately failed on pulling it together. I think the author would have pulled this off better if he had a partner that could do the actual writing while Jeffries came up with an outline kind of like what James Patterson does.

Some real Holmes-like sleuthing pays off for the Inspector as he solves several murders by and of expats on his island and elsewhere.½

A quick read but a nicely managed plot that supports the very apt title.½

A somewhat bleak story featuring industrial espionage and armed robbery. Ashford tells the story through the eyes of Mike Sterling, the PR director at HI Motors. After the robbery the police become convinced that the culprit is in the PR department and Sterling begins to suspect his brother-in-law. But he is intensely loyal to his sister which sets up a painful conflict for him. How can he resolve this?

Faintly amusing—this was #33 in the series. Perhaps the earlier books are better.

Faintly amusing—this was #33 in the series. Perhaps the earlier books are better.

Beginning with the thirty-seventh book in a long-running series can be a bit tricky, but I wanted to read something set on Mallorca, so I picked up the latest Inspector Alvarez mystery by Roderic Jeffries. At first I did feel a bit off balance because I was missing the introductions to the characters and setting, but that swiftly passed-- especially with the brilliant opening conversation between two rich, insufferable, razor-tongued gossips.

Inspector Alvarez quickly proved himself to be the type of investigator who knows how to deal with a supremely difficult superior while still conducting his business his way. Being new to Alvarez's deductive style, at first I thought it was much too repetitive. Inspector Alvarez's thought processes aren't served up on a platter for the reader either. You get to see what he does, and you get to see what he tells his boss, and that's it. But that's the charm of this book: you see what the inspector sees, and it's up to you to put things together at the same time as Alvarez. When everything starts clicking together, the reason for the investigative repetition becomes clear, and your appreciation of Alvarez-- and for Roderic Jeffries' skill-- grows. After enjoying In Search of Murder, I'm thinking that I should savor a few of Alvarez's earlier cases!½

In many ways this reminded me of Martin Walker's Bruno Chief of Police series set in France. Except that the Inspector Alvarez series is set in Mallorca. But the premise is similar: police detective embedded in his local community.

Every now and then in AN ARTISTIC WAY TO GO the reader is given tantalising glimpses of Alvarez' backstory, enough to encourage further dabbling in the series. The details about life in Mallorca have an authentic feel, a place that struggles to cope with the impact of tourism and the influx of new residents who threaten the old agricultural way of life.

There are plenty of suspects in the disappearance of British art dealer Oliver Cooper, even suicide and Alvarez narrows the list down methodically although in the long run he gets to the answer by intuition.

A fairly light, but enjoyable read.½

An oil sheik decides to send his young son to England to be educated at a posh private school. The police are called upon to help implement a tight security system at the school, but even with all of their precautions, the boy is kidnapped. When the investigation begins, it looks like one of the cops has given the plans to a group of kidnappers. Suspicion falls on one policeman, who tries to convince everyone he's being framed.

Anger of fear also examines the tied hands of the legal system of England, and what happens when "the anger of fear" leads people to do extraordinary things.

Ashford is a fine writer, and manages to build the suspense slowly and keep you there for a while. Recommended for people who like British mysteries, or something just a little different in their mystery reading.½

The story begins during WWII, with main character Harry Miles serving in the Merchant Navy. The ship is torpedoed; he escapes and is able to save one of the crew, a Geoffrey Pattison, from drowning. Years later, Harry needs a job, so he goes to Pattison, for a job on his farm. But a chain of events previously set into motion leads to terrible tragedy, and Harry finds himself a chief suspect.

The book is really quite good, and Ashford sets up a fine tale of suspense that will keep you reading until the story's done. I would recommend it to people who like British mysteries, or people looking for an author off the beaten path. The end may let you down if you're looking for things sewn up neatly, but it's still a very worthwhile read.

A very different kind of mystery novel, in which a somewhat hardened criminal leads a group of his compatriots into pulling off an armored car robbery. The cops eventually figure out who the culprit is, but proving it is a different matter. One cop makes a mistake which may set the head thief free, but which may put himself behind bars.

I must say this books was very refreshing in its solution. It's not so much of a mystery, actually, but rather a suspense story, because the author tells you everything along the line and you are left to wonder how the good guy is going to get out of his predicament. The solution was a fine one, one I haven't seen duplicated since. And I read a lot of mystery novels!

I'd definitely recommend it for people who enjoy British crime fiction. Don't write it off because it's older...it's still very good!½

The Counsel for the Defense in question is one David Adams, an attorney not doing so well in his field. He is called upon to defend three men who are unquestionably the criminals in a robbery of 15,000 pounds; he knows it and one of the defendants admits it freely. Under the law, he cannot take their case once he has heard it from the defendant that he is, in fact, guilty, but there's a snag. His wife receives a telephone call from someone who says that they have Adams' daughter, and unless he not only takes the case, and gets all three acquitted, she will be horribly violated. So Adams has no choice, and only has an uphill battle ahead of him in a case which should be a slam-dunk.

The book was just okay; it is the first novel written by Ashford so perhaps he hadn't quite hit his stride here. I would recommend it if you've read other books by this author, or if you're really into British crime fiction and are looking for a new author.

Quick and enjoyable for a couple of hours on the beach. Likeable Inspector, intolerable senior chief, Mallorquin foods and temperament. The recipes in English, ala Phiip Craig, would be of interest.

I wasn't sure about this to begin with then all of a sudden it took off. Mrs Leithan has disappeared and her husband is behaving very calmly and casually. He told the police she has gone away on a visit and that they shouldn't worry. The police arrived because the people she was visiting were worried when she hadn't arrived on the train she was due on. Mrs Leithan is introduced as an odd character. They don't seem to have a happy marriage but Charles is not allowed to divorce her otherwise he forfeits a very substantial sum of money as part of an agreement left by a previous generation.

The couple are a wealthy couple, they have a lot of domestic staff working for them and in particular people come and go to look after the prize-winning dogs. This is where Mrs Lethian was going, to a conference of sorts about the dogs. Not only did she disappear but her beloved champion dog Stymie disappeared. The dogs keep being mentioned not only because of their significance but because Mrs Lethian is unable to keep the staff because of her attitude. Needless to say they don't have good words to say about her.

The police are suspicious as they know Charles has a mistress and has been visiting her more frequently following his wife's disappearance. Unbeknown to Charles his wife also had her suspicions and had hired a private detective but couldn't prove anything. When Mrs Lethian's dog is found brutally murdered the police still bring a murder charge before a jury - without a body. This is where events take a turn and I can't say more as it will spoil the plot.

The characters are a little cold and it is a bit difficult to warm to them. Eventually the mistress becomes likeable but you still aren't sure if she is responsible for something along the way - I don't mean in Mrs Lethian's disappearance but you think she's had some involvement somewhere. The ending will give you a sharp intake of breath and it is a worthwhile easy read at only 192 pages.