The Case of the Dying Foursome — Peter Jamesson

The St. George mysteries are tales of contemporary murder presented with a touch of class in the belief that murder in itself is frightening. Here you will not find the graphic depictions of grisly human torture, mutilation, terror, sadism, and the distracting sidebars and tabloid fillers that so often clutter 4modern4 mysteries. In Chief Inspector Byram St. George, you will meet "a sleuth unlike anyone you4ve ever met" and stories that readers find difficult if not impossible to put down.* * * An old man4s murder is labeled a random shooting. Increasingly fearful for their own lives, the victim4s elderly neighbors pressure Scotland Yard to reopen the investigation. Chief Inspector Byram St. George inherits the case andwith his loyal colleague, Det. Sgt. Laurence Poole, begins the chase by reviewing what is known. The victim was a very private man, a widower who had outlived his children. Like many elderly, he followed a set daily schedule that never varied. For more than four decades, that schedule included playing golf every week with three very close friends, intensely loyal chums since their military service during the turbulent closing days of World War II. In fact, the four original golfers named each other as executors of their estates. The victim was the third to die but the only one to be murdered. Forensic evidence was meager and nonspecific. The murder weapon - a commonplace black market semiautomatic pistol - had not been recovered. Opportunity to commit the crime was unequaled because the killer came and went without raising suspicion. And motive? Aye, that was the rub as everyone questioned only praised the deceased. St. George and Poole re-interview the people closest tothe victim to find that many previously favorable opinions have changed: "Bad form to speak ill of the dead...But hell, he4s been cold for two weeks. That4s long enough. Oh, he wasn4t a jerk all the time. Except whe