Unseemly End

Dolly Lund – widow of a scrap metal merchant and thrower of flauntingly vulgar parties – may be one of the wealthiest women on Mallorca. But she certainly isn’t the most popular… 

When Dolly unexpectedly dies after a night of overindulgence at one of her extravaganzas, few on the island shed a tear.

Her young lover Mark Erington inherits virtually everything and that’s the end of that.

Or it would it have been, if the doctor hadn’t suggested that Señora Lund may not have died naturally, suddenly piling a murder case on Inspector Alvarez’s desk. 

The principal beneficiary becomes the number one suspect.

Only he happened to have been in England on the night of her party, and has an alibi to prove it. 

As the summer heat begins to sap all remaining dregs of energy from the island, Alvarez’s efforts to trace Erington’s movements seem nothing but a waste of time. 

Like speculating why Dolly had a left a battered cigarette case to a young man she hardly knew.

And why her Spanish gardener had it in for her.

Or why her daughter’s pleas for financial help had been ignored.

Weaving between locals and holidaymakers alike, the inspector finds plenty to interest him in the questionable lives and habits of the English colony on Mallorca. 

But with another body thrown into the mix, unearthing island gossip is not enough. Will he unearth the island murderer?

Unseemly End is an engrossing thriller filled with mystery and suspense. 

'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.