When Dora Coates’s nephew reported his aunt was missing after having gone for a swim in Llueso Bay and had later been heard to cry out in alarm, Inspector Alvarez’s reaction to this news was to tell the Policia Local that tourists stupid enough to get into trouble when swimming in the dark were their problem, not his. Then her body was recovered and the evidence suggested her drowning might not have been accidental.It was almost inevitable that Superior Chief Salas should criticize the course of Alvarez’s investigation; even more unfortunate for him that others were so vocally displeased by his dogged attempts to establish the truth.

An Inspector Alvarez MysteryRich and arrogant, when Tyler's love of good wine leads to the deaths of a young couple in a country lane in Kent, he drives his car to his extensive property in Mallorca so the English police cant examine it. When laid-back Mallorcan Inspector Alvarez is ordered to investigate whether Tyler is in the area, he's reluctant, to say the least. He soon discovers, however, that this routine inquiry has far-reaching consequences...

Inspector Alvarez is rudely awakened from his afternoon siesta by a phone call reporting the death of one Senor Picare. On arrival at the Picare villa, it seems his grieving widow is passed out in bed and the housekeeper, Rosal?a, is the one dealing with the police and comforting the young maid, Marta, who is devastated by the death of her employer. It soon becomes clear that Senor Picare may have promised Marta ? and other young women ? more than he should have done and there could be a fair number of disgruntled husbands or fathers around who had a reason to want him gone.Alvarez?s investigation, as always, is full of the vivid colour of Mallorcan life and passion, and despite Superior Chief Salas? instructions, he doggedly follows his own ? often unconventional ? path until he finds out the truth . . .

Inspector Alvarez likes the quiet life, away from the disapproving gaze of his boss, Superior Chief Salas, and the antics of Mallorca's expatriate community. So he is not inclined to become too concerned when Bevis Ogden, a wealthy British man, reports the disappearance of his attractive young wife, Sabrina. No doubt she has found a younger, possibly wealthier, alternative and left for greener pastures. However, the discovery of a body at the bottom of a gorge changes his attitude dramatically. The husband is distraught, but is this just an act? Rumors abound over Sabrina's lifestyle-from the lovers to the over-indulgent spending. But their expat pack is rife with unsavory characters: The young gigolo who, dependent on a wealthy older woman, may have had an illicit affair with Sabrina; and the cynical and bitter friend whose advances she may have rejected. The investigation becomes even more complicated when the specter of an insurance fraud is raised. Alvarez...