Guilt Without Proof

The hijacking of a lorry filled with whiskey. A body discovered within a burnt-out cellar. Are they connected?

Detective Inspector Fusil believes they are.

All he requires now is some evidence. But that's easier said than done.

Sending his already over-worked team out into the field, Fusil is under strong scrutiny from his superiors.

Politics prevent him from chasing his biggest lead too closely.

His budget prevents him from spending too much time searching for new leads.

Gut instinct points him in the direction of Findren and Sharman, two local wine sellers that have establishments large enough to handle the whiskey heist.

But can he prove that either of them were involved?

Ordered by his chief inspector to move on from those two and search elsewhere for suspects, Fusil is fast running out of evidence to catch the criminals.

Unless he breaks the rules…

Putting his career on the line, he disregards orders in search of the truth.

Can he catch the perpetrators before his insubordination is discovered?

Frustrations mount as he finally identifies the criminal.

But without proof, how can he get a conviction?

Guilt Without Proof is a brilliantly written crime novel, full of twists that will keep you hooked right until the very end.

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 in the field of the legal thriller with Exhibit No. Thirteen and Dead Against the Lawyers. Once again he has used a little known quirk of the law, and woven round it an enthralling story of immense intricacy.' - 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.