Evening star., 1951-09-09
Crime
By Miriam Gutenberg

The Other Body in Grants
Tomb, by Richard Starnes.
q. B. Lippincott Co.; $2.50o
Mainline
Given a week to uncover
enough big city corruption for q
magazine expose, Barney Forge
seeks out a chronic lush gifted
with total recall who's supposed
to know all. Before Barney
can squeeze the lush dry, he
loses him in a Turkish bath
tragedy. Barney is quite willing
by that time to dream UP his
expose and depart for home.
airedale and goat but the police
don't take kindly to his ubiqui-
tous presence around corpses.
Enter the Genealogical wizard,
DR.. st. George Peachy, to steal
a body and rescue his chum.
The author, who combines be-
ing assistant managing editor
of the Washington Daily News,
with turning out first-rate
thrillers, makes his first de-
parture from the Capital in this
one and profits from the change
of scene.
Murder in the Family, by Mary
Hastings Bradley. Longmans,
Green & Co.: $2.50.)
The strangling of teen-ager
! could have been the work of
the drunken driver arrested for
the crime, but the terror at
Cauldron's Folly didn't stop
there. The girls mother, a
rich widow, was convinced she
was being followed. that some
one was trying to drug and
then smother her, that a series
of little accidents were no ac-
cidents at all. The plot follows
the formula Of the unbreakable
will and the greedy relatives
but it's handled with acceptable
suspense.
The Beautiful Stranger, by Ber-
nice Carey. Doubleday q
Co.; $2.50)
Crime Club
Therese MacGowan walked in
beauty and village gossip. 1t
was her perfection that made
her the ideal target for suspi-
cion when a ladies' man was
murdered. Wouldn't her hus-
band naturally be jealous of
such a rich prize? The fact that
the victim was also a volunteer
company spy and that the mill
town was in the throes of un-
ionization was ignored because
nobody wanted to hurt the mill.
This is at once a study of lethal
gossip and a sensitive analysis
Of the workers attitude toward
their mill. making it something
off the beaten track of who
dunitS.
Shadow Of Madness, by Hugh
Pentecost. (Dodd. Mead &
Co.: $2.50.)
Red Badge.
Psychiatrist John Smith
stumbles into a nest of trouble.
Seems man harassed for six
years by a unique blackmailer
has virtually kidnapped his wife
and seven friends. He's threat
ening to kill them all If they
don't turn over the blackmailer
who must be among them. In
the shadow of a machine gun.
DR.. Smith set out to keep the
"host" from precipitate murder.
locate the basis for blackmail
and unmask the blackmailer.
There's the. quality of q play
about this, complete with one
stage set and clearly defined
three acts.
- = y =
Strangle Hold, by Mary Nc
Mullen. (Harper g. Bros;
$2.50.)
An advertising agency with all
the usual headaches - demand
ing clients. copy headlines, OBJ
streperous art director - nearly
succumbs under one headache
too many. The naked body Of an
unidentified woman Is found in
the conference room and Sus-
poets abound. Our heroine Is Up
to her neck in murder. romance
and office intrigue right up to
the terror-laden finale. Miss
McMullen, in a flawleSs first
novel, combines intimate knowl-
edge of advertising agencies
with q flair for intricate plot.
ting and sophisticated humor.