Definitely Deceased

Inspector Alvarez #25

by Roderic Jeffries

Alvarez was reluctant to help Miguel Munar, suspected of smuggling. And trouble did indeed blossom. There was the man who had to be identified if Munar were to escape arrest, but he had vanished; there was the headless, handless corpse which was found in the mountains; there was the lady whose amatory pursuits were legendary, but not confined to legend...

Genres: Mystery

250 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2001

About the author

aka Peter Alding, Jeffrey Ashford, Roderic Graeme, Graham Hastings.
Son of Graham Montague Jeffries

Roderic Jeffries was born in London in 1926 and was educated at Harrow View House Preparatory School and the Department of Navigation, University of Southampton.

In 1943 he joined the New Zealand Shipping Company as an apprentice and sailed to Australia and New Zealand, but later transferred to the the Union Castle Company in order to visit a different part of the world.

He returned to England in 1949 where he was admitted to the Honourable Society of Gray's Inn and read for the Bar at the same time as he began to write. He was called to the Bar in 1953, and after one year's pupilage practiced law for a few terms during which time there to write full time.

His first book, a sea story for juveniles, was published in 1950.
His books have been published in many different countries and have been adapted for film, television, and radio.

He lived for a time in the country in a 17th century farmhouse, almost, but not quite overlooking Romney Marsh before he and his wife moved to Mallorca. They have two children.

Reviews

[Rogue Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smugglers, family, tourists and the police. Good Mallorcan food and siestas are musts.

[Penny · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first reading of the Alvarez series. Didn't like the detective much, so probably won't read another, but the story was okay.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Pauline Moncrieff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an ideal series to recommend to readers who want a light, humorous mystery story. The novels are set in Majorca, and a constantly recurring theme is the culture clash between the locals and the expatriate British who have settled there but will never really belong. Alvarez is often forced to deal with puzzling examples of their bizarre "foreign" behaviour in solving crimes on the island. The author himself is a British expatriate living on Majorca.