Layers of Deceit

Contrasted against the Island of Mallorca's stunning scenic landscapes and blazing hot temperatures, relations between the English and the Mallorquins are notoriously frosty... But are they becoming even more sinister? First the breaks of an English couple's car are tampered with. Then a young Mallorquin girl attempts suicide. Finally, an Englishman turns up dead. A drunken fall, or is something more menacing at work here?More Description

Contrasted against the Island of Mallorca's stunning scenic landscapes and blazing hot temperatures, relations between the English and the Mallorquins are notoriously frosty...

But are they becoming even more sinister?

First the breaks of an English couple's car are tampered with.

Then a young Mallorquin girl attempts suicide. Finally, an Englishman turns up dead.

A drunken fall, or is something more menacing at work here?

Inspector Enrique Alvarez of Mallorca is on the case once again.

Fuelled by his favourite coñac, he must discover the truth behind another death on his beautiful island.

Will Superior Chief Salas find credibility in Alvarez's confusing theories?

Or will the murderer slip through the net...

Mallorquins and foreigners are suspects alike, as Alvarez's investigation sees him swap the beauty of the island for the rain-swept lands of England.

But who amongst this mix of nationalities would be capable of murder?

And how much reliability is there in the supposed curse of the cousins...

Layers of Deceitis a mystery filled with twists and turns against the backdrop of sunny Mallorca.

Praise for Roderic Jeffries

'A first-rate whodunit turning on the resourcefulness of a country gentleman who exploits the process of the law to delay its action. Author on the top of his legal and social form.' - Francis Goff, The Sunday Telegraph

'Roderic Jeffries established a very high reputation for himself.' -Maurice Richardson, The Observer

'The resulting legal intricacies make fascinating reading.' - Hester Makeig, The Spectator

'First-class, smoothly told, fine court scenes and sketches of lawyers entirely absorbing.' - John Clarke, Evening Standard

'The most ingenious of Mr. Jeffries's exercises in legal trickery.' - Julian Symons, The Sunday Times

'...is for the mystery story connoisseur and particularly the man who can appreciate this ingenious exercise in legal trickery.' - Police World

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 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.