Emery Bonett (1906–1995)

Inspector Borges has been at a conference in Europe with some English senior policemen and has accepted an invitation to holiday in London with an old friend, Sir Otto. Sir Otto's niece Anthea will be taking him to see the sights in future days but Sir Otto has been contacted by the son of an old friend with a worrying problem about his uncle's recent death. The death is that of Halberd Corsair and rumours are beginning to circulate that his wife has somehow caused his death. Her nephew Keith is keen to prove them wrong.

And so Inspector Borges is drawn into a semi-official investigation with the blessing of Scotland Yard, although in fact he is a Spanish policeman.

I'm so glad to have discovered this series of very readable crime fiction, with their very satisfyingly constructed teasers.

I have already begun reading #3, THIS SIDE MURDER. I will certainly follow through and read all 5 titles in the Inspector Borges series. Has anybody read the 3 titles John Bonett wrote with his wife - the Mandrake series?… (more)

A murder mystery in which our hero attempts to unpick the suspicious death of his uncle, an unpleasant literary critic with a collection of compromising records of former lovers. There is a lot of psychology as he tries to decide whether or not the woman he is falling in love with is a murderer, and plays a complex game of duplicity with both her and Professor Mandrake, who has appointed himself as chief amateur sleuth. Some colour is added by the contemporary setting - the England of postwar rationing, where chocolate biscuits are at a premium and everyone tries to ingratiate themselves with the grocer in the hope of a few extra fish heads. Entertaining, but I hadn't the patience to follow all the twists and turns of the emotional narrative and just waited to see who the murderer was. MB 7-ix-2018… (more)