Murder Delayed

Prolific British author Jeffries's latest Inspector Alvarez mystery offers the usual pleasures—subtle innuendo, bittersweet commentaries on the vagaries of life and flavorful descriptions of the island of Mallorca. Enrique Alvarez, harried, as always, by his infuriating boss, Chief Salas, has been handed one of the biggest challenges of his career. A computer expert named Faber has absconded with half a million pounds from England and apparently blended in with the hordes of tourists in the Llueso area. Alvarez's job: find Faber. The subsequent investigation narrows his quarry down to one of three suspects. But which one is Faber? It's up to Alvarez to find out in a hurry. Perhaps more than anyone since the late Georges Simenon, Jeffries (A Sunny Disappearance ) has a special talent for reminding us in an understated, unpretentious way why a detective novel can be an ideal prism through which to view humankind with its myriad quirks and foibles. (May)