Mysteries-of-the-Month

Of 15 average and better-than-average detective stories last month, four stood as best bets. In order of merit :

THE CASE OF THE SUBSTITUTE FACE--Erle Stanley Gardner--Morrow ($2).

Mystery of a suspected embezzler, lost overboard on a trip from Honolulu to San Francisco, solved by Perry Mason with his usual combined detective-lawyer activity, culminating in some successful courtroom trickery. Excellent.

FRIDAY MARKET--Catherine Meadows --Macmillan ($2.50).

Slow-moving story, with first-rate characterizations and well-developed English village atmosphere, in which a fussy, ambitious lawyer turns into a murderer before the reader's eyes.

CRADLED IN MURDER--Rudd Fleming --Simon & Schuster ($2).

An instructor in a New Orleans college, involved in the poisoning of one of his students, fights through the fog of mystery hanging over the victim's wealthy, subtle, degenerate family.

ACTS OF BLACK NIGHT--Kathleen Moore Knight--Crime Club ($2).

Murder and kidnapping among a group of wealthy people marooned on a lonely island off Cape Cod, solved by likable local sleuth. Elisha Macomber. Plot: deft; atmosphere: good.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.