IN THIS SIXTH novella in the series, Roz Benedict and Kate Sampson continue to operate their private detective agency, Cops & Roz’s, despite the difficulties of their last big case featured in Le Frottage.
University student, Oscar, barely listens to his mother’s instructions not to come home while she’s away on holiday for four months with a man called Wally. That is until she mentions the sum of money she’s adding to his allowance to tide him over.
Some months later, Roz and Kate receive a commission to investigate a property fraud, a case of identity theft. Roz’s partner, Guy Attwood a solicitor-turned-law-lecturer, is sceptical, but Roz and Kate enthusiastically take on the job.
Their client is Connie Everitt, mother of Oscar and the real owner of the property, Southfork. Roz and Kate find her cagey and unhelpful and the twists and turns of the case prove confusing but they doggedly pursue it.
Connie’s story is that she was lured away for several months and, in her absence, someone masquerading as Connie sold the property to Gael Rafferty.
Roz is drawn to Gael, the other apparent victim of the fraud, who bought Southfork as an equestrian property with a view to running her own horse-racing stables. A potential friendship emerges. Gael now risks losing Southfork since the transfer of the property to her was illegal and is liable to be set aside.
But is Gael really squeaky clean? Indeed is Connie on the level?
Wally, Connie’s alleged holiday companion, can’t be found. Enquires bring forth a number of possible suspects and Roz suffers a frightening experience at the hands of one of them.
Guy makes a suggestion and the answer, when Roz discovers what’s been going on, is surprising and not at all welcome.
Confounded is the sixth novella in the Roz Benedict Detective Novellas following on from Compromised,Cut Off,Conflicts of Little Avail,Conjecture Most Macabre and Le Frottage. Confounded, as with all the other novellas in the series, can be read alone.
Genre: Literary Fiction
University student, Oscar, barely listens to his mother’s instructions not to come home while she’s away on holiday for four months with a man called Wally. That is until she mentions the sum of money she’s adding to his allowance to tide him over.
Some months later, Roz and Kate receive a commission to investigate a property fraud, a case of identity theft. Roz’s partner, Guy Attwood a solicitor-turned-law-lecturer, is sceptical, but Roz and Kate enthusiastically take on the job.
Their client is Connie Everitt, mother of Oscar and the real owner of the property, Southfork. Roz and Kate find her cagey and unhelpful and the twists and turns of the case prove confusing but they doggedly pursue it.
Connie’s story is that she was lured away for several months and, in her absence, someone masquerading as Connie sold the property to Gael Rafferty.
Roz is drawn to Gael, the other apparent victim of the fraud, who bought Southfork as an equestrian property with a view to running her own horse-racing stables. A potential friendship emerges. Gael now risks losing Southfork since the transfer of the property to her was illegal and is liable to be set aside.
But is Gael really squeaky clean? Indeed is Connie on the level?
Wally, Connie’s alleged holiday companion, can’t be found. Enquires bring forth a number of possible suspects and Roz suffers a frightening experience at the hands of one of them.
Guy makes a suggestion and the answer, when Roz discovers what’s been going on, is surprising and not at all welcome.
Confounded is the sixth novella in the Roz Benedict Detective Novellas following on from Compromised,Cut Off,Conflicts of Little Avail,Conjecture Most Macabre and Le Frottage. Confounded, as with all the other novellas in the series, can be read alone.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Used availability for Gill Mather's Confounded