Raven House (paperback) reprint, 1982.
Available from used book sellers.
14 years before, Derek Locke and Eddie Guard conspired to
embezzle a fair amount of money from the bank a were employed. Guard, on his vacation, began so set up the
Swiss account into which they would move the proceeds; Locke, whose vacation
followed Guard's, met him on the intervening weekend to finish that up. Before Derek could return to England Eddie
was arrested (the theft had been discovered), and Derek took off for parts
unknown.
Flash forward.
Derek's (14-yearyounger) brother Jeremy is now a solicitor...and Derek
has returned to England, planning to meet up with Eddie and get his share of
the loot. And Eddie gets himself
murdered; Derek, of course, is the chief suspect--but Derek also says Eddie has
told him that a third man as involved..
Jeremy, for reasons that aren't all that clear to me, tries to help
him--by finding an alternative suspect and getting Derek out of the country
again.
It's not a bad setup, but there are problems (or
omissions). First, the embezzlement
scheme is not really explained very well.
And, more important, there are only two real candidates for party
#3. The story moves well and does
nothing to make me revise my opinion of Woods as a writer. But it's hardly much more than a little above
average for a mystery novel.
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