Rosa's Dilemma (Rosa Epton) - Tapa blanda

Rosa, however, is not the only person on the dead man's trail. Everyone from inquisitive journalists to MI5 appears to be taking an interest - and none so much as the dead man's mother, a cockney matriarch with a score to settle.

Michael Underwood (the pseudonym of John Michael Evelyn) was born in Worthing, Sussex and educated at Christ Church College, Oxford. He was called to the Bar in 1939 and served in the British army during World War Two. He returned to work in the Department of Public Prosecutions until his retirement in 1976, and wrote almost 50 crime novels informed by his career in the law. His five series characters include Sergeant Nick Atwell and lawyer Rosa Epton, of whom it was said by the Washington Post that she 'outdoes Perry Mason'.

Solicitor Rosa Epton has vowed never again to work on a case with Malcolm Palfrey. For two years she's managed to keep that promise - but when Palfrey journeys from distant Nettleford personally to request her assistance in one final case, Rosa finds herself reluctantly agreeing.

Initially the job seems routine enough: the two lawyers are to defend a young couple charged with malicious damage following a night of reckless drinking. While Rosa doggedly prepares the defence, Palfrey's participation is almost nonexistent, and on the day of the trial he fails to turn up. What Rosa doesn't know is that he is slumped over a park bench with a bullet in his brain and gun in his hand . . .