Fatal Opinions

In the fifth Chief Inspector Alec Stainton mystery, Murray ( Fetch Out No Shroud ) marshals a cast of wretched, unsympathetic characters and moves them along at a lackluster pace. Members of CAMEX (Campaign Against Medical Experimentation) are being harassed: one is investigated for abusing her young son; another, a schoolteacher, is anonymously accused of molesting his female students. Then Kate Randall, CAMEX leader, is bludgeoned to death. Inspector Stainton and his colleagues must determine whether Kate's murder was another warning to her group or resulted from mistaken identity--on the night of her death she wore a black cap that made her look like another woman. A subplot involves the inspector's rocky romance with a doctor who describes herself as ``illogical and unreasonable; moody; cursed by the moon; full of faith, and of doubt; demanding. '' Murray's female characters are typically hormone-addled, weepy and deferential to stoic males throughout--in short, they are stereotypical and outdated. They, as well as the halting narrative, make this a mystery to miss. (Dec.)