John Keelton, Chief Constable of Flecton Cross, lives a dutiful and honest life.
A loving husband, father and honourable policeman, he is content and appears to have come to terms with the sudden loss of his son from a drugs overdose.
However, cracks soon begin to emerge: promotions have been denied and his judgemental, tunnelled vision interferes with his job and his family.
His fight against criminals and drug dealers consumes him and clouds his judgement as suspicion and paranoia force him to seek justice above anything or anyone else.
But not everyone in the police force is as loyal as Keelton and he is dismayed and hurt when a weak link appears in his own tight knit team.
It becomes unbearable for him to believe that one of his detectives would turn traitor.
His daughter Joanna adds to his troubles as she pursues a relationship he thoroughly disapproves of and ends up complicating his investigation.
Can he salvage his relationship with Joanna and his wife Mary as well as weeding out the poisonous detective?
Or will he be forced to choose between his work and his family and lose everything in the process?
Tense and exciting, A Traitor's Crime is impossible to put down until the events in the Flecton Cross police station have been brought to their thrilling conclusion.
'Jeffries' fresh twists and excellent characterizations make any novel by him an exciting reading experience.' - San Francisco Chronicle
'... a stubbornly appealing, believable hero and a neat ironic twist at the close.' - Kirkus Reviews
'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, Sunday Telegraph
'Tension builds up and there are two exciting court scenes. 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, Observer
'The resulting legal intricacies make fascinating reading.' - Hester Makeig, - 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, Sunday Times
'Good court scenes; very competent.' - Peter Dickinson, Punch
'...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 went to sea in 1943. Six years later he left that trade to become a lawyer. He again changed profession to become a writer. Since 1951, he has written over one hundred and sixty novels under his own name and several other pseudonyms. He began his career by writing books featuring his father's character, Blackshirt, a popular detective whose adventures have appeared in print for many decades. In time Jeffries branched out and began to write a variety of mystery novels under his own name and several pen names, including Peter Alding and Jeffrey Ashford.
Genre: Mystery
A loving husband, father and honourable policeman, he is content and appears to have come to terms with the sudden loss of his son from a drugs overdose.
However, cracks soon begin to emerge: promotions have been denied and his judgemental, tunnelled vision interferes with his job and his family.
His fight against criminals and drug dealers consumes him and clouds his judgement as suspicion and paranoia force him to seek justice above anything or anyone else.
But not everyone in the police force is as loyal as Keelton and he is dismayed and hurt when a weak link appears in his own tight knit team.
It becomes unbearable for him to believe that one of his detectives would turn traitor.
His daughter Joanna adds to his troubles as she pursues a relationship he thoroughly disapproves of and ends up complicating his investigation.
Can he salvage his relationship with Joanna and his wife Mary as well as weeding out the poisonous detective?
Or will he be forced to choose between his work and his family and lose everything in the process?
Tense and exciting, A Traitor's Crime is impossible to put down until the events in the Flecton Cross police station have been brought to their thrilling conclusion.
Praise for Roderic Jeffries
'Jeffries' fresh twists and excellent characterizations make any novel by him an exciting reading experience.' - San Francisco Chronicle
'... a stubbornly appealing, believable hero and a neat ironic twist at the close.' - Kirkus Reviews
'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, Sunday Telegraph
'Tension builds up and there are two exciting court scenes. 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, Observer
'The resulting legal intricacies make fascinating reading.' - Hester Makeig, - 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, Sunday Times
'Good court scenes; very competent.' - Peter Dickinson, Punch
'...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 went to sea in 1943. Six years later he left that trade to become a lawyer. He again changed profession to become a writer. Since 1951, he has written over one hundred and sixty novels under his own name and several other pseudonyms. He began his career by writing books featuring his father's character, Blackshirt, a popular detective whose adventures have appeared in print for many decades. In time Jeffries branched out and began to write a variety of mystery novels under his own name and several pen names, including Peter Alding and Jeffrey Ashford.
Genre: Mystery
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