Relatively Dangerous: An Inspector Alvarez Novel

No fancy tricks, no contrivances, just probing intelligence and perseverance distinguish the work of Inspector Enrique Alvarez in the dogged Mallorquin's latest case. A car crashes on a winding mountain road outside Palma, leaving the driver dead, the passenger without memory and both men without papers. His memory returned, the passenger, a lone hitchhiker, identifies the driver, a recent visitor to the island with whom various British residents have had financial dealings. Considering the possibility of murder, Alvarez tracks leads gleaned from the dead man's papers, criss-crossing Mallorca from elegant villas to hillside bungalows, even flying to Barcelona and London, in spite of the grumbling derision of his superior. An old scam in England, bodies switched at a funeral, a bitter son with a charming cad of a dad, all figure in Alvarez's resolution of this complex and satisfying case. Self-indulgent and long-suffering, sleepy on the outside, sharp as a tack within, the warmhearted Inspector Alvarez is as complicated and admirable as his detective work. (October 21)