Deadly Petard
By Roderic Jeffries
You can’t run away from murder…
Detective Alvarez is to identify a woman called Sandra who is a friend of an Englishman, Keir West…
The office in England wants to know her full name and address as well as any other available information concerning her and the mysterious death of West’s wife, Barbara.
When the body was found, it appeared to be a suicide.
However, while studying her journal, is became apparent that the final few entries had been written in a code of some sort.
Now that they have been decoded, the focus is back on Keir West.
Under pressure from his superiors to come up with something substantial, Alvarez begins his investigation with Gertrude Dean, an old friend of Keir.
Although Mrs Dean claims to have never met Sandra, police are doubtful that she is telling the truth about Mr West…
During the initial investigation, Gertrude had found the pressure from both the police and Keir West overwhelming and had fled her home in England to live in sunny Mallorca, away from the nasty business of Barbara West’s death.
But once Alvarez has asked all his questions and left, Keir soon turns up at her doorstep, asking exactly how much help she has given the seasoned police officer.
Gertrude has been infatuated with him her whole life and Keir is adamant that he didn’t kill his ex-wife.
He compels Gertrude to stick to her story as she is his only alibi.
Secrets come out and under stress, many people begin to show their true colours.
Deadly Petard is a gripping Agatha Christie-esque murder mystery that is perfect for any fan of crime-fiction.
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.
