Murder in October

DEATH OF A PEER--Ngaio Marsh--Little, Brown ($2). The titled English Lampreys are harebrained like the Sycamores in You Can't Take It With You. Broke, haunted by bumbailiffs, M'Lord and Lady and their six assorted offspring are full of charades, false whiskers and profound contempt for rich Uncle Gabriel.Touched for another loan, Uncle G. comes to call, bringing his wife, regarded by the Lampreys as mad if not actually a witch. Uncle G. expires with a silver-plated meat skewer in his eye; Detective-Inspector Alleyn puts them all through the hoops. Delightful story.

THE DEAD CAN TELL--Helen Rellly--Random House ($2). Plugging New York's Finest, this latest Inspector McKee story deals with a couple of murders in the Fast Set. There's evidence that a dead woman lives, that sex is not dead, that Medical Examiner Fernandez is dumb like a fox. Recommended.

THE RIDDLE OF THE SANDS--Erskine Childers--Dodd, Mead ($2). From Brunsbuettel to Borkum two Englishmen poked a seven-tonner between the shifting Frisian sands and into Imperial Germany's British-invasion preparations. No ordinary spy story, this is a reprint of a soundly calked yarn of pre-World War I days. To the small-boat sailor its puzzle of channels and fog is better than any cadaver by the mizzen.

BLACK PLUMES--Margery Allingham --Crime Club ($2). Intricate behavior of the Ivory family, plagued by murder, a Tibetan Enoch Arden, their own famed art collection and its curators. Bedridden Gabrielle, grand old Ivory dame, sends her imperious influence through walls and minds and even Inspector Bridie.

IN THE FACE OF THE VERDICT--John Rhode--Dodd, Mead ($2). Dr. Priestley, scientist, again works with Supt.Hanslet and Inspector Jimmy Waghorn. Major Bedworthy is drowned near Blacksand. Accident, says the jury. Maybe, says his friend and neighbor. Priestley plows around in rubber boots among motives of sex and money.

NINE -- AND DEATH MAKES TEN --Carter Dickson--Morrow ($2). Thuggee on the blacked-out Edwardic, Britain-bound with munitions and nine passengers. Lying doggo in a remote cabin, Sir Henry Merrivale, of Intelligence, hears of it by accident, snorts his way below to ponder a lady's corpse, a vanished Frenchman and duplicate thumbprints. First-rate puzzler.

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