Murder's Long Memory: An Inspector Alvarez Novel

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. (Apr.)