A Question of Risk

In this top-notch mystery thriller set within the famed Lloyd's insurance colossus, underwriters James Ross-Gilbert and Richard Trene have siphoned off millions of pounds from their syndicates into personal accounts hidden throughout the world. When a journalist reports on one ostensibly legal scam, the financial house of cards begins to tumble and the two men flee Britain, leaving their investors (known as Names) to suffer the unlimited liability to which Lloyd's rules has committed them. One vengeful Name, Lord Henry Allanport, who loses his wife--she dies from complications of pregnancy--and his estates, sets out to kill Ross-Gilbert, the more public of the conspirators. Mal Harris, a private investigator hired by Lloyd's to recover the missing money, must find Ross-Gilbert in order to access the secret accounts before he is slain by either Allanport or another killer hired to make sure a high government figure involved in the misdealings is not exposed. Shakespeare ( Utmost Good Faith ) deftly weaves arcane insurance lore with psychological insights on the effect of guilt and greed on human nature. ( May )